Valhalla High - A Million Problems plus School
by KatrinaLinden
Summary: Abandonment, revenge, suicide, gangs, rivalries and mental illnesses. Not the usual problems for school students, but nonetheless what many of the students of Valhalla secondary have to deal with. (A surprisingly dark High School AU) Shipping includes; Church/Tex, Grif/Simmons, Omega/Doc, York/Carolina, Sister/Tucker.
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, I know. ****_Another _****one. Unfortunately this latched into my mind and I had to write it down. A couple of thousand words later I decided I may as well upload. I tried my hardest to ensure there was no one main character or focus, which led with the plot being incredibly confusing. **

**I'd like to apologise in advance for Fem Sigma. I needed a female AI and he/she worked best.**

Apparently Caboose is coming back tomorrow."

"I thought he had Aphasher, or something. How's he going to come to school as a retard?"

"One; Aphasia. Two; I'm sure he'll have some support teacher and three; seriously Tucker? That's low even for you."

Tucker sighed. "Sorry man. It's easier to distance myself, y'know?"

Church nodded wearily. "I visited him last week. He was a completely different person."

"Hey idiots." Tex plopped into the seat beside church, paying no attention to the previous conversation.

_Just like Tex, not to give a fuck, _Tucker thought, his words before already forgotten.

"Hey Tex." Church was experienced with hiding his emotions. Unless he was angry; he seemed hopeless at hiding that. "Your hair's blonde at the roots, by the way."

Tex raised a hand to her scalp as if she could feel the lack of black dye. "Fuck, I can't afford anymore."

Church rolled his eyes and handed her a twenty dollar note. Tex could _never _afford anything.

"Thanks Len," she murmured, giving him a quick kiss as she pocketed the money.

"Someone's desperate to get laid," Tucker smirked.

Tex's smile had a familiar sadistic look to it that made Tucker shiver. "I wonder how hard I'd have to hit your balls to ensure you never enjoy getting laid again."

Tucker gulped. Knowing her, Tex was seriously considering it, and she could probably do it. In an effort to change the subject and protect his privates, Tucker informed her; "Caboose is coming back tomorrow. Or so Church says."

"Will he be OK?" Her tone was of genuine concern. _Perhaps she_ had been _oblivious._

"We'll look out for him," Church muttered.

"Yeah, of course. It's our job as his friends." Tucker smiled, trying to pretend he didn't feel as bad as Church and Tex looked.

* * *

"You and Simmons are sooo lucky."

"Shut up Donut," Grif growled, not in the mood to listen to Donut's rambling.

Donut, of course, ignored him. "I mean, you two are perfect for each other. You've found your soulmate and you're still in high school!"

"Donut, Simmons is not my soul- oh nevermind. You wouldn't listen. Look, are you going to get to the point, or should I leave?" Grif had already eaten the small lunch he had packed.

"Why can't Doc realise how much I like him?" Donut wailed.

"Uh, maybe because you _haven't told him!_" Grif was getting sick of Donut's 'lovesickness'. It was almost as sickening as when he'd heard about him and Simmons. Almost.

"But what if he doesn't like me?"

"Then he doesn't like you, you stop annoying me and go find someone else to drool over. Win win win. It's not like you two are friends."

"But just _asking _him ruins the romance!"

Grif gave up. "Where the hell is Simmons? He should have to deal with this too."

"Umm..." Donut's smile became slightly guilty. "He told me not to tell you. He wants to study."

Grif groaned. Exams were months away! What the hell was Simmons studying for? "I'll take you and sister shopping this weekend."

Donut didn't even hesitate. "Our English room. He asked to use it after you found him in the library."

"Thanks. See you next class."

"Mkay." Donut had already resumed staring at Doc.

* * *

"Pleeeeeeease?"

Delta stared at his sister, expression stern. "Sigma, you're supposed to do your _own _homework."

"I forgot! And my teacher will give me a detention if I don't hand it in."

"Detention for one bit of homework? That seems a little harsh."

"Weeell, not exactly one..." Delta rolled his eyes. "Come on D, just this once, I promise."

Delta sighed before taking the sheet, quickly filling in the answers. "Somehow, I don't believe you."

"Yet you're doing it anyway," Sigma replied brightly.

Rolling his eyes once again, Delta handed back the completed math homework. "Careful, or I'll do what I do with Theta and _make _you do it."

Theta, who has just eaten though his and Delta's cupcakes (courtesy of Sigma's baking), shuddered. "That is one threat. Tread lightly Sig."

Sigma laughed. "Yes sir, mister bossy boots." Her ridiculously formal voice brought a smile to even Delta and Omega's face.

* * *

Simmons had hoped his latest studying spot would last more than a day.

"What do you want, Grif?"

"Uh, to see my boyfriend." Grif scoffed as he noticed the loads of books besides Simmons. "Really? What the hell are you studying for? Surely you can get it done at home."

Simmons snapped. He had no idea why it was the mention of home that did it, but he supposed it was about time.

"No! I _can't _do it at home. I have to replace my mum so _she_ can try to find work. A-and even if she does, it mightn't be enough to pay school fees. So I _have _to get a scholarship!"

Grif blinked as Simmons stormed out, books forgotten.

"Wait, what? Simmons!" Grif chased after him.

"God you're a fatass," Simmons growled when he caught up.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Grif panted. "What's wrong?"

"What's it to you?"

Grif mentally groaned. Why did Simmons decide now was a good time to be such a bitch? "You're upset, and I'm not so much of an asshole that I don't care. I want to help!"

Simmons sighed, trying to reign in his anger. "My dad, he..." Why was it so hard? "He walked out on us a month ago."

* * *

Theta took his time on his way to class. He really didn't care about being late, besides, his teachers were mainly nice. He wondered whether Delta had done that. Theta wouldn't be surprised. Delta often got a little overprotective towards his younger siblings.

"Understandable, but still annoying, Theta muttered as he rifled through his locker.

"What is?"

"Gah!" Theta jumped and spun around, utterly surprised by the sudden voice behind him. The speaker was at least a year older than him, with very pale blonde hair. He wore a dark purple top with green on the hem and across his shoulders.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" North's caring voice went against everything he had heard about him from Omega.

"N-no. I'm always a bit jumpy." Theta smiled hesitantly.

"Ah, Ok." North tilted his head and remained starting at Theta.

_Is he making me uncomfortable on purpose?_ "Um, I have class."

North seemed to (thankfully) snap out of it. "Goodbye then. Sorry again."

_Weird..._

* * *

Tex reread the note, as if reading it could make it go away and change the past.

_Tex._

_Give us what you owe or one of your friends will wish he was dead. If he doesn't die first. You have a week._

"I'm sorry Caboose," she whispered. She contemplated, as she had often in the past three months, running away again. But if she did, they would hurt everyone she had spoken to here, before coming after her once more.

_I need a way to fight them._ Which resulted in her hanging around after school, searching the sea of students for a particular brown-haired individual. "York!" Two eyes, one brown, the other milky white, focused on her. "Got a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." He turned to his friend and muttered something. The blonde nodded and continued walking whilst York made his way over to Tex.

"You could have let North come, it's about the freelancers."

"You're reconsidering? Epic!" His fistbump was oddly childish for a gang leader.

"You seemed very eager for me to join. Do you have a fetish for badass girls?"

"Only the red-haired ones." York smiled goofily. His crush on Carolina was so well known throughout the school, Tex was surprised Carolina hadn't found out.

"Anyway, I have a condition for joining." York raised an eyebrow, suddenly serious. "I need protection for my friends, and to take out some certain people."

It sounded simple enough. "Which people?"

"I don't know their names. They belong to a gang called the Insurrection."

* * *

Theta looked nervously at his brother as they rode home. Omega was looking out of the window passively, but he knew how quickly that could change. Nonetheless, if anyone could explain what North had wanted, it would be him. Both from dating Tex during the time the Freelancers had first become interested in her, and his own interest in the little gang, Omega knew the most about them besides their own members or ex-members.

"Uh, Omega?"

"Mmh?" Theta looked over to Sigma, who was trying to draw. The car's terrible suspension wasn't helping. Theta hoped her frustration wouldn't stop her from helping him if Omega became _really _mad.

"Uh... is it normal for North to just stare at people?"

Omega turned his head, assessing Theta. "Why?"

"He came up to me after lunch and did that."

"Did he say anything?"

"Well he overheard me talking to myself, and frightened me by asking what I meant. Then he said he was sorry for scaring me. And then he started staring."

Omega frowned. "When did he leave?"

"When he said I had to go."

Omega nodded. "Do you remember what I've told you about North?"

"He's the recruiter for Freelancer. Wait? Is he trying to recruit me?"

"He might. If he's taken an interest in you, he'll follow you around for a while. Then he'll start asking."

"And if I say no?"

"Remember Wash?"

_Oh fuck._

**Hehe. You won't find out what happened to Wash for a while. Heck, I'm not even sure. Anyway, next chapter will probably be longer, this was more an introduction than anything. Please review with any critism, suggestions, ideas or comments you have. I honestly don't mind flames, so flame away if you want.**

**Also, that summary had me stuck for ages. If you have a better one in mind, please say so :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello and welcome to chapter two! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favourite and read chapter one. Just the fact so many people liked it enough to read it is touching. Now this was actually finished a few hours after I published chapter one, but I've decided to keep it to each Thursday (for me.) Also, 2000 words for this :D I hope to keep it that length.**

It wasn't often Sigma was loud enough to wake Omega. It took him ages to get to sleep, but when he achieved his goal, little could take it away from him.

Once he was conscious enough to realise what the shrieks meant, he stood, taking no more than a second to ensure Theta remained asleep before rushing into Sigma's room.

Delta was there already; he had probably been awake when Sig's nightmares begun.

Omega stared at his twin, worry pooling in his stomach as she cried out. "I'll kill him. One day, I'll kill that son of a bitch." Even Delta shivered at the malice in his voice.

"Omega?" Sigma called quietly.

"I'm here, you're safe." All rage was forgotten in favour of comforting her.

Sigma closed her eyes, squeezing them shut in an effort to hold back tears. She was stronger than this. It was only at night, when she was alone and it was dark did his memory come back the hardest. "I'm sorry, I woke you up."

Omega shrugged and pointed at the clock beside her bed. It read 6:42. "We'd have to get up soon anyway.

* * *

"That is the face of a shit boyfriend," Grif told himself, glaring at the mirror. A _month _Simmons had to deal with all that shit. And in all that time, Grif hadn't even noticed! He'd kept teasing him and leaving the poor guy to fend for himself.

"Dex! Stop hogging the bathroom, that's my job!"

Grif didn't want to hurry up. He still hadn't thought of a way to make up for his stupidity. "Do you really need to spend half an hour in the bathroom?" That was all the time they had left before school? Fuck.

"Well _duh._ I have, like, four classes with Tucker today. I have to look my best." Ugh great. Now he was reminded of his sister dating that shitty asshole. At least his hatred was directed away from him now.

"I'll let you in if you promise not to talk about or to Tucker in my hearing for the rest of the day. Deal?"

"Deal!" Grif unlocked the door and stepped out, allowing Kai to push past.

"And be ready before we have to go!"

* * *

"Get out of my house! Go away, you bastard!" Church ignored the yelling, silently covering his toast with butter.

"Dad, shut up. Hi Leonard." Church waved to his half-sister, still trying to pretend their father wasn't probably bawling his eyes out in another room. "God he's pathetic," Carolina growled. "Anyway, are you ready?"

"S'pose so."

Carolina did not fail to notice his mood. "Worried about Caboose?"

Her brother nodded. "He's changed so much, it's like he _did_ die. He's a little kid."

Carolina patted his shoulder, being about as affectionate as the two ever got. "I'm sure he's still in there somewhere."

* * *

"Mum, this isn't the way to school."

"Calm down Donut, I just need to pick up a patient."

"Oh, Ok." Donut settled down, watching through the windows as his mother drove them through town. She stopped outside an ordinary whitewash house. A blonde boy Donut's age stood outside. "Caboose?"

"You know him?" His mum queried, looking at him via the rear view mirror.

"Y-yeah, he goes to Valhalla."

"Well, perhaps you can help get him readjusted." With that unlikely wish she left the car, walking towards where Caboose stood.

"Sheeeeeeila!" Caboose cried, catching Donut's mother in a tight hug. Donut's stomach soured at the sound of Caboose's childish voice. That wasn't right.

"Caboose, you can sit beside Donut." Caboose looked around the back of the car, confused.

"I don't see a donut..."

"Uh, that's my name." Donut chirped, trying to sound friendly despite his hatred of the boy, or what he used to be.

"But you are not a cake. Why is donut your name?"

_Donuts aren't cake. _"It just is."

Caboose stood there for a minute before finally sitting down. "Do you know Church? He's my best friend. He likes me way more than Tucker, but he likes Tex just as much because he has no-pants time with her. He can't have no-pants time with me because I'm a boy. Someone told me Tex was a bad person, but I-"Caboose cut off, frowning. "I..."

"Give yourself time Caboose, it'll come to you," Sheila advised from the front.

"OK," Caboose replied, and Donut was struck once more by how childish Caboose seemed. What had happened to him?

* * *

Church and Carolina were usually among the first at school. Both were more than willing to leave early just to have more time away from their dad. Despite having to walk (neither of them were old enough to drive) they lived close enough to school that the trip was relatively short.

Carolina quickly ditched Church in favour of her 'friends', so Church usually waited by the gates for his friends.

Tex came first, to his great surprise. "I thought you took an oath or something never to come before nine this year." Church could count the times Tex had arrived on time with his fingers.

"I didn't want you to leave you alone when Caboose came." Church was struck by how _nice_ that was. Sure she complimented him and stuff, but usually only when she wanted money or sex.

"Uh... thanks?"

Tex grinned at his confusion. "Can't I be nice sometimes?"

"You're not a clone, are you?"

"Chuuuuuuuuurch!" Caboose ran in and grabbed Church in a suffocating hug. "ImissedyouImissedyouImissedyou!"

Church smiled painfully at his altered voice. Welcome back, Caboose."

Caboose's wide grin didn't falter as he looked at Tex. "I don't believe them!" He exclaimed, much to everyone's confusion. "Sheila was right!"

"Yes, I was. Don't worry, it will get easier." A middle-aged woman walked through the gates, closely followed by Donut. She looked similar enough for them to be related; Church guessed she was his mother.

"Sheila Donut? Seriously?" It seemed like Tex had the same thought.

Sheila seemed unfazed. "My husband's name."

"I wouldn't marry someone if my name'd be that shitty," Church muttered.

Sheila glared at the two, but it was her son who responded. "So you two made sure your names fit before you got together. I wouldn't be surprised. You're both amazingly vain." He and his mother walked off, Caboose following close behind. He seemed unwilling to move beyond three metres from Sheila.

"Allison Church _is_ a nice name..."

"Shut up Church," Tex growled.

* * *

"I don't want you talking to CT anymore." South glared at her brother. He had stated this the moment their dad drove off; she wondered how long he had been waiting to say it.

"She's my friend."

"She betrayed us."

South scoffed. Leaving the gang wasn't exactly betrayal. "So? You let Maine go."

"Yeah, well Maine's... Maine. Even Tex would have trouble finding a way to beat him. He'd probably stab her in the face, or something."

"I'm sure Epsilon would come up with a way," South muttered. In all honesty, she hated Epsilon. He was one of the creepier Freelancers. Even his codename was weird; a laugh at the O'Malleys, especially Omega.

"Look, can you just stop hanging out with CT? We shouldn't have any connections with her."

"She's my best- no. She's my _only_ friend!"

"It's a bad image for the gang!"

"I'm only in your stupid gang because you wanted me to join!"

"Please, South." North adopted his 'kind and caring' tone, something South knew was absolute bullshit.

"No. And if you mention this again, or you or Epsilon or anyone tries to hurt CT, I'll put those pictures dad took of you in my clothes up around school."

North froze. South didn't care. She kept walking, but at a slower pace so she could still hear him. "You wouldn't."

"I'm in a gang. Who knows what I'd do."

* * *

"What are you staring at?" Sigma was surprisingly bubbly as she pestered Omega, who instantly turned a bright red. "Oooh! Do you have a crush?"

"Shut up Sigma."

"Aw! Come on! Tell me!"

Omega, knowing he wouldn't be able to ignore Sigma's pleading, pointed across the school. "Brown-haired guy in a purple shirt."

"A guy." Sigma grinned and Omega blushed darker at the mention of his bisexuality.

Sigma leaned forward to study her twin's crush. He had light, slightly curly brown hair that hung at a medium height for a guy. His eyes were hidden behind square glasses. A light purple jacket barely showed the violet shirt underneath. He wore dark blue jeans and white sneakers with lining the same colour as his shirt.

Sigma's habit of almost constantly drawing caused her to be very observant.

"Not bad. What do you know of him?"

"He's in three of my classes. His name is Frank DuFresne, Doc to his friends. Depending on who you ask, he's a determined pacifist, or the wimpiest guy in school."

"And that turns you on?" Omega's embarrassed stutter had Sigma giggling madly.

"Why do I ever tell you anything?"

"Because otherwise, you'd just stare at your crushes for the rest of high school. Come on." With that she grabbed her brother's hand and half-dragged, half-lead him over to Doc.

"Hi!" She greeted cheerily, getting the attention of Doc and his two friends.

"Hello!" Doc replied, while his blonde friend muttered a greeting, the other simply growling.

"I swear, the time before school is so boring, I reckon teachers try and make us _want_ school to start." Sigma chatted on whilst Omega sat uncomfortably beside her, trying not to stare at Doc but wanting to all the while.

An elbow hitting his side brought him back to the conversation, where Doc was explaining how he got his nickname.

"I personally am not huge on it. I mean, the helping people part is cool, but all that blood... And it'd be my fault if someone dies. But my dad gets what he wants, so looks like I'm going to be a doctor."

"That sucks. Your dad doesn't sound too nice."

Doc shrugged. "He's fine, just really stubborn." He paused for a moment, frowning. "I mean, not in a bad way. Being stubborn can be a good thing, sometimes." He cut off his own rambling, blushing slightly.

"You're lying to me, if you won't even say something slightly bad about your dad when he isn't even near. Wow, he must be scary."

Doc's blonde friend, who had probably been introduced while Omega wasn't listening, spoke up. "Nah, Doc's always like that. If he says 'god', he'll apologise to every religion, despite being an atheist."

"Shush up Wash," Doc muttered.

"Shush up?" Omega bit back a laugh. Doc frowned and Omega immediately regretted his comment. Obviously, from the many tales he'd heard, Doc's pacifist nature was often ridiculed.

Wash sighed loudly, looking up. "Wash, you should just ask her out." The gravelly voice was unfamiliar. How Omega had forgotten Doc's other friend, with his size and intimidating look, he did not know. He was probably too focused on Doc.

"Who?" Sigma perked up and looked around, focusing on a black-haired girl as Doc pointed her out.

"CT. Wash had had a crush on her for years."

Sigma quickly assessed her, noting her slightly stiff walking and how she kept looking back more than normal. "She's pretty." Wash raised an eyebrow at her, a slightly teasing grin on his lips. "Don't look at me like that. Omega's the bisexual one, not me."

"Hey!" Omega wanted to vanish as Sigma calmly gave out that _very _personal information.

Wash, seeming to have a similar point of view to Sigma in regards to embarrassing his friends, announced, "Doc's gay." Doc, understandably, stuttered and blushed, while Sigma giggled. Omega got past his embarrassment long enough to realise just how smart his twin was.

The bell rung, giving Sigma and Omega an excuse to leave. "Hey Wash, before we go,"

"Mm?"

"Are you blind?" Omega recognised her _I know more than you _tone.

"What?"

"Does CT walk past you every day?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"And does she always look so annoyed at herself once she does?"

"What are you getting at, Sigma?"

"You're not the only one who can't get over their fear of asking someone out." Sigma walked off and chuckled as Wash stood there, realisation slowly creeping through his mind.

**That bit with Sigma, Omega and Doc was the first scene I imagined when first thinking of this story. So blame it for sticking in my head until I had to write it. Also, happened last chapter, happened this one. I make a cool/funny bit with Tex, then have to write more to keep it a good length. **

**By the way, I've been trying to keep this story as complex as possible, with each character having their own stuff going on. So if you think I've missed out on someone, or am concentrating the plot too much on one character (Sigma?), please tell me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Phew. Done. This was a bit trickier than the last two chapters mainly because it involved actual classes. Trying to juggle having it seem like a normal school environment without being incredibly boring and adding jokes at the same time is hard.**

"What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Donut muttered, averted his eyes. He didn't want to explain to his mother why he was glaring daggers at O'Malley. _He's mine, cockbite._

"Uh huh." Sometimes Donut hated having a psychologist for a mum. She never took 'nothing' for an answer, even if she pretended to. "Where are your friends?"

"Well, Grif _never _comes early. And I can't see Simmons..."

"Is Simon your friend?" Donut was starting to get used to Caboose. Three months ago, he wouldn't go near him, especially if Church was near. Church and Caboose had once been typically bullies. The asshole and the muscle. Now, Caboose's broad and scary build was softened by his smile and voice.

"Oh for god's sake Caboose, my name is _Simmons._"

"Woah!" Donut yelled, nearly hitting Sheila as he stepped back. "Since when did you get so sneaky?"

Simmons shrugged. "What are Caboose and your mum doing here?"

"I'm here to help Caboose adjust to school, due to his Aphasia."

"Oh, right. He's even more retarded now."

Donut was surprised by the coldness in his voice. "What's up with you?" He shrugged again. Now Donut was paying attention, he did seem passive... unfocused? Like he wasn't really there.

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of school. "What do we have first period?"

Simmons had memorised his, Grif's and Donut's timetable by term 1. "P.E."

"Oh, great. Let's hope Grif comes later than usual." The two left, while Sheila led Caboose to the front office to receive his timetable.

* * *

The school's main P.E. instructor was a gruff man named Sarge. Well, that's what the teachers called him. Most the students knew him as 'the old lunatic who loves red and _really _hates Grif.' As if Grif didn't have enough of a reason not to like sport.

"Right. Yer know the drill. Pick a team, blue or red. If yah can't pick yerselves, I'll put you on the worst one."

"And then everyone will go to blue team," Omega muttered. Sigma grinned slightly.

"Which team this time?" Some students, like Church, Tucker, Simmons, Grif and Donut always picked the same team. Most didn't really care though, and stuck with their friends.

Omega scanned the students, paying attention to who had picked which team. "Blue. Tex looks mad."

"I think she looks more upset." Omega often mistook other emotions for rage.

"Is there a difference with Tex?"

"Fair enough," Sigma muttered, and the two made their way over to the blue team, happy to deal with Sarge rooting against them so long as they didn't have Tex trying to play whatever game they were assigned as violently as possible against them.

"Alright pansies. We're playin' dodgeball! Each team will get seven balls each. Catch the balls to bring the person of your choice back in. Make sure yer don't go over the middle line, and don' cheat! Especially you, Grif." Sigma could hear the protests from across the hall. Poor guy.

The game passed as it usually did; Sigma tried not to get out whilst chatting with her twin, Omega caught any balls that came near him and threw them half-heartedly. Church tried a few times to throw, then gave up when the attempts failed dismally. Tex probably got half of the reds out, glaring at them like they'd insulted her mother. Caboose somehow managed to make each ball he threw hit Church, and Sarge decided that counted, meaning Church was constantly out.

On the red team, Grif was trying and failing to avoid Sarge's line of sight while slacking off. Donut, who could throw even better than Tex, was currently 'facing off' with her, both of them determined to get the other out. Simmons, who usually stuck beside Sarge and offered encouragement to his team, was beside Grif, not even trying to look like he was doing anything.

"Simmons?"

"What, Grif?"

Oh great, he was grumpy. "Look, man. I'm really sorry."

Simmons shrugged. It seemed to be his default reaction to stuff now; shrug it off. "I was kinda making an effort to hide it from you. Not your fault I did a good job."

"Why'd you hide it from me, though? I'd have helped."

Simmons looked at Grif, game forgotten. "I didn't want you to worry. I like you because you're carefree."

"And I'm a lazy fatass, don't forget that."

Simmons gave a glimmer of a smile. He loved their banter. "Mhm, that too." Grif wrapped an arm around him, resting his head on Simmons' shoulder.

The moment was broken soon enough as Donut yelled out "Hell yeah! Three points ya dirty whore!" Grinning hugely as Tex stormed to the side.

Sarge, completely ignoring the profanity, congratulated Donut.

* * *

The game eventually ended with Sarge grudgingly admitting that Blue team had won; because of Grif's laziness, of course.

"How the _hell _did you not manage to hit a single person?" Tex muttered, laughing softly.

"At least I did better than Caboose. It was like he was trying to get me out!" Church looked behind him to glare at Caboose, who had adopted an innocent air.

"Tucker did it!"

"Oh fuck you!" Tucker growled. Sheila, who was lagging behind Caboose, almost objected before deciding it wasn't worth it.

"What's up with you?"

"Just pissed off by Caboose. Was the guy always this annoying?"

Church vaguely remembered being worried and wanting to protect Caboose less than an hour ago. Now he wanted to ditch class just so he didn't have to listen to the idiot call Tucker stupid or claim to be Church's best friend. Hell, he'd happily exchange _schools _at the moment.

"Move it." Church obeyed, blinking in confusion. Since when was Simmons so moody?

"What's up with you fags?"

Grif, as per usual, responded by giving him the finger behind his back. Simmons looked behind him, and Church wondered if the nerdy wimp was actually going to _talk back, _when Grif dragged him along, muttering in his ear.

Another surprise came in the form of Sheila, who stepped in front of him, glaring. He stared back. He didn't need this woman mothering him. _Just do your job and stop Caboose from annoying us._

"I do not appreciate your rudeness."

Tucker started laughing, Tex snickered. Church just gave her a blank look. "I'm not trying to get your _appreciation._" The three walked off, Caboose following closely behind.

* * *

Donut watched with mild curiosity as Grif lead Simmons into the classroom, the latter still fuming. "What happened?"

"Fucking asshole," Simmons muttered, glowering.

"Ah, Church. Not like you to get so annoyed by him."

Grif momentarily wondered whether he should explain to Donut why Simmons was in such a bad mood. Best not to; he decided. Donut didn't have much to offer in the way of support, and would probably offer to bake cake, or something equally delicious yet useless.

It was something to be said about Grif's focus on helping Simmons that he rejected the thought of food with ease.

Flowers, their music teacher, walked in. Conversations dimmed as students found their chairs and prepared for boredom. "Okay, everyone!" Flowers began in his usual cheery voice. "Vic and I have decided to give you all an assignment, to see how musical you all are." No one bothered to suppress their groans. "Oh come on, it'll be fun! In pairs I want you all to compose, sing and perform your own song! I don't mind what type, so long as it's about you." More groans, which Flowers happily ignored.

Donut looked glumly at Simmons and Grif. He could tell they were about to ditch them. Unfortunately Doc wasn't in this class, so he couldn't choose him. Donut let his mind wander, resigning himself to being paired with whoever was left.

* * *

"No, fuck no. I am so not working with you." Church ignored Caboose's pouting.

"But Chuuurch!"

"_No._"

"Caboose, perhaps you could pair with Tucker?" Sheila offered. She was sitting beside Caboose, as far away from the other three as she could. _Donut was right to call these people jerks_.

The two stared at eachother. "I do not want to work with an idiot."

"Funnily enough, I was about to say the same," Tucker growled. The moron was really starting to get to him.

"Is there a problem?" Flowers had noticed the argument.

"Yeah," Church growled. "Caboose won't leave us the hell alone!"

Flowers frowned at Church's harsh tone. "Now, now, no need to be mean. Caboose, how about you pair with Tex?"

"Fuck that," Church muttered. "I'm with Tex."

Flowers must have been in a bad mood that day. He felt a slight surge of anger at his student's words, enough to bring him to a decision. "No, you are not. Tex and Caboose will work together. Tucker, you can work with..." He looked around, noting a trio who hadn't seem to have decided yet whom to work with. "...Grif. And Church, you can work with Andy."

Church glared at his 'pair'. Andy was known around the school as an utter jerk. As per usual, he was alone in the back of the class, calling insults at Omega, who was nearby. Church didn't want to be there when Omega snapped; he wasn't the nicest of guys when angry.

His first words when he got within hearing of Andy was "Shut the fuck up or you'll regret it."

"Church! What're you doing here?"

God, just his voice was annoying. "I have to work with you."

"Why?" A chuckle, sure sign he was about to insult Church. "Your girlfriend not want ya anymore?"

"Shut up," was his only reply.

* * *

"Seriously?" Grif glared at Tucker, who held his hands up as a sign of surrender.

"I'm as happy as you are."

"Ugh, _fine. _But mention my sister, and you're going home with a few less teeth."

"Deal." In all honesty, Tucker wasn't completely averse to working with Grif. The guy probably wouldn't do anything, meaning he could make whatever song he wanted. Besides, the two were pretty similar. The only reasons they weren't friends were called Kaikaina and Church.

Beside them, Simmons looked dully at Donut. "So, uh, what do you want to have the song about?"

Simmons shrugged, turning his gaze to the desk. "I don't care, you pick."

"Oh, ok." Silence resumed.

* * *

"Any ideas?"

York bit at his pen, a habit he had when thinking. "Come on Carolina... Have fun Carolina..."

North smirked, amused as ever by his friend's hopeless crush. "You realise this song will probably be presented to the whole class, right?"

"It'd be a cool way to tell her." York grinned.

"Fine. But you're writing the lyrics."

"Done," muttered York, who was already working out a chorus.

* * *

"Just go ask her."

Wash's head shot up from his hands, blushing as he tried to pretend he hadn't been staring at C.T. "What?"

Sigma rolled her eyes. "Ask her to work with you. What have you got to lose?"

"She could say no."

Sigma rolled her eyes. "Or you could moon over her for the rest of your life. _Go._" The last word was accompanied with a slight push. Sighing, Wash stood, taking a few steps before looking back. Sigma was standing by his desk, arms crossed in a definite 'I'm not going until you ask her' pose.

Wash growled, wondering if she was this annoying to her brothers. Annoyed or not, he did as she said, walking over to where South, C.T. and Carolina were talking.

"Come on South. You really want to work with _her_?"

C.T. glared at Carolina. "I am here, you know."

"Yeah, can you change that, please?" South buried her head in her hands, trying to ignore the squabbling between the two.

"Uh, Hi." All three looked up at Wash, who suddenly felt incredibly nervous. It didn't help that the two girls he _didn't _have a crush on were part of the gang that had nearly killed him...

_That isn't helping with your courage Wash. They won't try anything now Maine's left them. _

"Hey, um, Connie?" C.T.'s expression gave a flash of anger at the mention of her nickname.

"What?"

"Uh... Do you... um, want to work with me?"South scoffed, while Carolina seemed unsure of who to glare at.

C.T. turned her head towards Carolina for a second, before shrugging. "Sure. Anything to get away from this bitch."

**To Shadic1978, I'm so sorry I couldn't add any actual Yorkalina. I have so much plot for ****_every single character _****that it's hard to get to certain characters in 2k words. I will try, though. **

**I always got the impression that C.T. and Carolina really dislike eachother from the series. Did anyone else?**

**Also, Wash is fun to write. Almost as fun as Sarge.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm SO SORRY about the lateness+shortness of this chapter. Melbourne had a massive heat wave that involved multiple days above 40. My brain died. I promise next week I'll have it on time. **

Felix used to call himself a freelancer. Now, if he simply mentioned the word, deadly glares would be sent his direction until he hurriedly explained his meaning. He had no specific friend group, preferring to hang out with whoever caught his interest that day. Most people accepted him pretty easily; he was a charismatic guy.

Today he decided to entertain himself by walking into the cafeteria and sitting next to the first person he saw wearing grey. Why grey, he wasn't too sure. Perhaps he thought not too many people would willingly wear grey.

He recognised the person he ended up picking. Wash always wore grey. Felix sat across from the blonde, cheerily greeting him.

"What do you want, Felix?" Oh, right. Maine hung with him. Creepy... _really_ big guy.

"Uh... Can I hang out with you guys?"

Maine frowned at Wash. Seriously; why would they have a problem with him?

"Of course you can Felix!" Doc smiled warmly at him, ignoring the looks from his friends.

Felix returned the smile, grateful that at least _someone _here wasn't a freaky ex-freelancer.

* * *

"Get the fuck away from me, Freelancer." York wasn't really surprised at Church's hostility. It still kind of annoyed him, though.

"What's your problem with my gang, dude, seriously."

Church rolled his eyes. York knew exactly why. He just wanted Church to admit it. Instead of sounding like a 'caring little brother', Church just flipped the guy off, returning to his food.

"Ugh. Anyway, I wasn't here to talk to you. Where's Tex?"

Church blinked at that. "Why the fuck do you want Tex?"

York allowed a victorious smirk to show. "I just wanted to talk to my gang's newest member."

"WHAT!" The yell echoed across the cafeteria, causing York to chuckle.

"What's up here?" Tex had quickened her place (slightly) at the yell, alarmed but used to Church's anger.

"You fucking joined Freelancer! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Church was standing, hands gripping the table. His eyes flicked from York to Tex, completely ignoring everything but the two.

"Church I-" _I had to keep you safe. _"It's not your business what I do or don't do." She wasn't about to let all _that _out now. Had she her way, she never would. It would be too much for Church. He had enough on his shoulders already.

"Tex... They're dangerous. You'll get yourself... Caught, or hurt." He couldn't say killed, couldn't bear to even risk jinxing it.

"I can take care of myself asshole." She walked off, closely followed by York, who had a smug grin on this face Church instantly despised.

Tucker, who had been silent up until then, clearly frightened by the anger radiating from Church, decided to speak up. "She'll be fine. It's Tex."

Church responded by burying his head in his hands, groaning loudly. "I said the same about Carolina, remember?"

* * *

Kai watched the confrontation between Tex and Church with interest. They were loud enough that half the room could hear them. "Wonder what's going on there."

"I honestly don't care, so long as they don't involve us somehow." Simmons had agreed to study with the other three, so long as they left him alone when he told them to.

Kai had noticed Simmons grouchiness a little quicker than Donut had. "What's up with him?" she whispered to Donut.

"I have no idea. Has Grif said anything?"

"Nope."

"He seems a little odd too." Donut took a good like at Grif whist his sister agreed, noting the deadly glare being sent his way. "Uh... Grif?"

Kai rolled her eyes. "He's suspicious of the fact we're whispering to eachother."

"Grif! You _know _I'm gay."

"You kissed her once."

"_Once. _Besides, _she _kissed _me_... years ago!"

"Seriously bro. You hold grudges _way _too long.

* * *

Epsilon's favourite pastime was messing with people. He was very good at it too. Being at school, surrounded by teachers, he could only use his words, but he still found a way. One of his favourite targets was Omega. The guy seemed to be on the edge of an explosion constantly. Also, Epsilon had worked at him long enough that he knew _exactly _what to say to get the outcome he wanted.

"So, what happened between you and Tex? I've heard a lot of stories." He loved the way Omega's face changed upon hearing Epsilon's voice; the thin eyes glaring at the table, unwilling to look up. The hands that turned to shaking fists, the way he hunched over slightly and shook with each breath.

"Did you cheat on her? I can't see how. Not many people like you enough for that. Did she cheat on you? Is that it? She probably got bored of you." Sigma and Theta tried to soothe their brother. Epsilon watched in amusement, knowing that even they couldn't stop him getting the reaction he wanted. Even so, he wanted to enjoy how desperately they were trying to calm him down.

"Maybe she just got sick of you. But that doesn't really explain why she hates you so much. Hmm... Let's think. What would make the untouchable Tex hate you the most...? Did you hurt her? Is that it? I can see her being _very _upset by someone she trusts attacking her. Perhaps you lost your temper. Not very hard to imagine. Maybe you left her a few bruises after a fight... Or was it something more?" Epsilon smiled, feeling the sensation of triumphant glee surge through his body. He looked at Sigma as she tried to convince Omega to ignore it. He loved knowing more than others, or, in this case, knowing some secret they thought they had to themselves alone.

"Did you _rape _her?" He hadn't finished the sentence before Omega had thrown off his siblings, racing towards Epsilon.

"How _dare _you fucking accuse me of that, you sick little asshole!" Epsilon had a thin, light build. He was used to running and dodging, usually while laughing slightly manically. None of Omega's punches hit their mark, which seemed to infuriate him further.

"Oooh. That got you. Does that mean it's true?"

Omega was desperately trying to strangle him when one of the teachers, with an odd last name of Four-Seven-Niner, came to intervene. "What's happening here?"

Epsilon adopted an innocent voice, in stark contrast to Omega, who continued to curse and threaten. "It's Omega, miss. He's gone nuts."

Four-Seven-Niner didn't have much trouble believing it. Omega's rage was known even among the teachers. "Omega, calm yourself down, or you can swear to the walls in detention. He didn't seem to notice her warning, but his sister walked up to now-fuming boy, placed a firm hand on his shoulder and led him away. Her face was stony, like all emotion had been leaked out of her.

Epsilon grinned as he overheard a few rambling mutterings '_I'll make him taste oblivion. Which tastes worse than red bull!' _It always took a lot longer for Omega to calm down than it did for him to run out of coherent threats to yell. Epsilon returned to the table at which the majority of the Freelancers sat.

"Do you really have to do that, mate? My head is still ringing from his yell."

"It's fun, Wyoming. Best fun to be had here."

"You're sick." Epsilon replied to South's mutter with a grin, clearly unfazed by her opinion.

"Where's York and North?"

"Most likely introducing dear Tex to the inner workings of our gang."

So, she gave in. Shame, she was fun to annoy too. But it wasn't a good idea to torment those in Freelancer; they were the main reason Epsilon hadn't been beaten up, and he wanted to keep it that way. "That would explain the yelling I heard."

"Of course Church is worried about her." Carolina seemed irritated. Epsilon wanted to make a remark suggesting incest, but there was the whole Freelancer-protected-him thing, and York would certainly listen to Carolina. That boy was so love-struck it was sickening.

[Linebreak]

C.T. found very quickly how frightening it was to be a possible target of a gang. Ever since she had left Freelancer, not wanting to be involved after the Carolina incident, she'd feared a visit from Epsilon or Wyoming or even Carolina every time she was alone.

It didn't help that she had no one to counter being alone. If it weren't for South, C.T. was pretty damn sure she'd end up dead in some back alley one day.

Surprisingly, despite Wash being the perfect example of her fears, she allowed herself to work with him, even agreeing when his friends offered her a seat beside him. She _just _managed to ignore the half-hidden scars beneath his hair, pretending like the two of them had no involvement with Freelancer. It helped that Maine scared even them away.

* * *

Classes resumed, ever-boring and annoying. Church didn't let his eyes leave the classroom door, waiting for the moment Tex would enter.

She never did. Church's worry only increased with time. He tried to deny the feeling of betrayal, but it was there nevertheless. Tex knew he despised York and his gang, and she knew why. Was she that determined to prove herself as a badass that she would join a _gang_? Sure, Freelancer usually did little more than steal petty stuff (except for Epsilon), but they had gotten into deep shit at least once.

_What were you thinking?_

* * *

"So, what do I have to do?"

North looked at York, who coughed slightly and replied. "We usually come up with some little task as an initiation."

_Yes, I know how these things work. _Tex fidgeted, wondering how inventive the two were with their initiations.

"Uh, maybe we can get her to steal something? Have her prove she's not afraid to break laws?" North offered.

Tex couldn't hide a snort of laughter. She had done much worse than steal, and was fine with it. York noticed her amusement. "Well, do you have a suggestion?"

_This 'initiation' is just a waste of my time. I need to get rid of the Insurrection as soon as possible. _"How about I give you everything I know about the Insurrection. Is that worth a membership?"

North shrugged, York nodded. "I'll pick you up after school. Don't tell anyone about _anything _we've told you."

"Obviously." Tex checked her phone, noting it was almost lunch. She had spent a fair amount of time being told the majority of info about Freelancer. _They should have waited until they could trust me, and even then only let me know what I needed. _Church was wrong in fearing the Freelancers. They were disorganised and badly lead.

_Hopefully they'll still be good enough._

**Is it wrong and creepy that I ****_loved _****writing the bit where Epsilon was tormenting Omega? Anyway. I used a shit ton of hints in this chapter. Trying to reveal ****_all _****the stuff I've planned, without rushing it is hard. **

**Oh! One last thing. I was at a train station a few days ago and ended up inventing the first-meet scene between Donut and Sister. I have a few more ideas of that type bubbling around; later on, would you guys like a flashback style chapter or something? **


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back, and on time this week! I seem to skip through time pretty quickly. Mainly because school is boring and hard to write interesting things about. Also, this is supposed to be in Austin, Texas, (because RT), but I know NOTHING of the American school system. So if you see anything wrong, please tell ^_^**

York was in a hurry. If he was to talk Carolina into working with Tex before lunch ended, he needed as much time as possible. Therefore, when some blonde kid refused to get out of his way, he became irritated quickly.

"Move it! Can't you see I'm going somewhere? God."

"Yes, I realise your haste indicates you have little interest in speaking with me. I do not care."

Ok, weird robot voice. Who was this guy anyway? York took a closer look at the boy in his way, noting green eyes and a slightly familiar face. _Great. One of the O'Malley nutters. _"Can you hurry up and tell me what you want, then?"

"I want you and your gang, North especially, to leave my brother alone."

"Brother? Omega?"

"No, Theta."

Oh, right, the little one with the weird purple and orange hair. Wait... why would Delta want him away from Theta? York didn't give two fucks about the little weirdo.

When York told him just that, Delta replied; "North has been harassing him. You are North's leader. Logically, he would be doing so under your orders."

"Dude, North isn't my slave. If he wants to be friendly to your little bro, it's his problem, not mine."

"You have no interest in recruiting Theta?"

"He's a little kid. Why would we?"

Delta glared at him for a moment before stepping aside, muttering as York walked past; "I don't believe you."

"Yeah, well, I don't give a shit."

* * *

"And you'll be good on your own? Maybe Donut-"

"Grif, I've been home alone before. Stop freaking out."

"Ok. I just worry." Sister nodded. Of course he did. And he had a right to; he had replaced both her mother and father for the last few years. He needed to realise she wasn't a child, though.

"I'm fine. Go to Simmons' place, help out with whatever's up."

"Kai, I'm sorry. When he's ready, I'm sure Simmons will tell you."

"It's no biggie. Besides, mysteries are fun." Grif smiled slightly as he drove into the driveway of their rundown house, waiting just long enough for Sister to get her bag out of the car before driving off. Simmons house was fairly close to school; he was probably there already.

His suspicions were correct; Simmons door was unlocked, Simmons himself waiting in the lounge. Grif was struck into silence at the state of the house. Sure, it was probably cleaner than the place he and Sister lived in, but Simmons' house had _always _been perfect. His mother had never let so much as a mote of dust settle on any of the furniture, and there was never any hint of untidiness anywhere.

"My mother doesn't have time to clean anymore. And I'm not that good at it."

Simmons seemed ashamed. Grif quickly wiped any suggestion of shock from his face. "It's fine. What are your usual chores?"

"Uhh... Why?"

"So I can help you, idiot."

"Oh, ok."

Grif sighed. Simmons was becoming more and more passive. Sister had done the same, when their mother finally left. "Simmons. _Look at me_."

Clearly surprised by Grif's firm tone, Simmons obeyed, meeting his boyfriend's dark brown eyes.

"You need to stop worrying. Your father was an asshole; he left you and your mum to care for yourselves, knowing how hard it'd be. Him leaving is not your fault."

"I know that!"

"Yeah, but you still think it is."

"What makes you an expert on what I think?"

"Sister acted the same as you did, back before she, y'know." Grif made a cutting motion across his wrist, which Simmons noticed with shock.

"I would never do that!"

"Yeah, I know." Grif lied. "Just get to studying, I'll clean up."

"Kay." Simmons was halfway to the stair when he turned, a glimmer of happiness warming his chest. "Grif?"

"Mm?"

"Thanks a heap, for helping me."

"You've helped me out heaps of times. I'm just repaying you."

* * *

"Church, it's you. Doesn't matter who Caboose was before, you won't last another day without snapping at him."

"What do you mean 'it's me', Tucker?"

"I mean you're an irritable bitch when it comes to people annoying you."

Church glared at his phone. "I am not!"

Tucker simply laughed. "Yeah, whatever. But still, can you see yourself sitting next to Caboose for the next few years _without _going insane?"

Ok, he had a point. One day had been hard enough. But it was Caboose... He owed the guy. And who else would he hang out with? Church envisioned Caboose becoming friends with Donut, Grif and Simmons. _Grif at least wouldn't hesitate to use Caboose to get back at me. _

"Look. You keep being an idiot. I'm going to call Sister."

"You want Grif to be pissed at you, don't you?"

"Well, that's kinda fun. But he's fucking Simmons or something; Sister's home alone."

Church hung up before Tucker could think of a way to throw in his catchphrase. He did _not _need details of whatever was inside Tucker's mind. He tried calling Tex again. No answer.

It was days like these which made Church wish he had a job during the week, just so he wouldn't have so much time to contemplate how much his life sucked.

"Can I help yo- Oh. It's you."

"Donut?" Church looked at his surroundings in surprise. He had been wandering around the town mall, bored out of his mind and not willing to go home, where his dad was and Carolina definitely wasn't. His legs had been on autopilot and for some reason had led him into a female clothing store. "You work here?" Church wondered why he was even surprised. It was Donut, for god's sake.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Nothing. Should have expected you to work somewhere like here. Couldn't get much gayer."

Donut rolled his eyes, trying to seem unfazed by the insult. "Unless you've hit your head hard and come to the conclusion Tex might like something from here, you obviously aren't going to buy anything. So get out."

"Yeah, whatever." Church walked out, searching up Caboose's number on his phone. He'd much rather deal with Caboose as he was than a Caboose under the influence of those fags.

* * *

"I can't believe York talked me into this."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's get moving." Carolina muttered something which sounded a lot like an insult. Tex let it pass, eager to get through this night _without _having to attack her new leader's crush. Just thinking of York as her boss made her scowl. At least it was only temporary.

Carolina followed Tex, glaring at her back._ Why the hell did York pair us together? _She despised Tex; Church had enough to worry about without Tex being the shit girlfriend that she was. It didn't help that Church had become notably more of an asshole once Tex showed up.

York had told her that if Tex w_as _lying and leading them into some shit, she wouldn't bring Carolina into it, for Church's sake. _Yeah right. She doesn't give a fuck about him. She joined Freelancer, after all._

"Carolina. Hurry up." Tex was already halfway up a ladder, much to Carolina's surprise.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Carolina couldn't see her face clearly in the dark, but she was sure Tex was giving her a deadly glare. "The Insurrection used to have a base in this building. If we're going to see if they still use it without getting caught, _we can't go through the fucking front door!_"

"Fine," Carolina muttered, following Tex as she climbed. She couldn't help noting how easy it'd be for Tex to throw something down and knock her off the building.

The two moved quickly to the roof of the apartment block, neither being killed by the other. Carolina continued to watch Tex warily as she moved her head to the ground, clearly trying to hear through the concrete.

"You won't be able to hear anything. It'll be too thick."

"It's a cheap building. Now shut up."

Carolina decided it was best to do as she said, crouching to make it harder for anyone to see her. She was in black clothing, and there wasn't much light in this area, but it was still possible for her to be seen, and someone randomly standing on the top of a building was pretty suspicious and sure to draw attention.

"Ok. I hear voices, but can't tell what they're saying."

"Well great. What now?"

Tex pointed to the ladder. "Check the window."

"Why do I have to?"

"Because if they see me, they won't hesitate before shooting. Now move!"

"Ok, fine." Carolina retreated to the ladder, climbing down a few rungs. A tiny ledge jutted from the wall, level with the floor inside. Carolina shuffled along it, one hand still gripping the ladder, the other trying to find suitable handgrips against the smooth concrete.

A window lay about a metre from the ladder. To say Carolina was unwilling to let go of the ladder and move across so she could see though was an understatement. She was terrified, really, not that she'd admit to anyone, Tex especially.

"Hold onto the window frame."

"Alright," Carolina muttered, reaching out and gripping the frame. Gingerly she let go of the ladder, leaning into the wall to help her balance. At last she was able to look inside.

Three people were in the room, one wearing red and black, his muscled arms bare. Another one wore a frowny-faced mask and held a knife. He, or she, Carolina couldn't tell, was someone she wouldn't be comfortable being in the same building with, certainly not in the same room. The third had a very short black mohawk, and was currently speaking.

"Where the hell are Sharkface and Sniper?"

"I told you." The sleeveless man has a low, gravelly voice and seemed bored. "They got caught up."

"And why the fuck did you leave them?"

"You said to get the fucking Intel. I got the fucking Intel."

"Ugh, Ok. Frowny, where's your- Wait. Who's that?"

"Well fuck." Carolina guessed that that wasn't good. She half-jumped, half-stepped back onto the ladder, indicating to Tex to climb down. Tex got the message, swearing creatively.

"Did you see them?"

"Yeah, I'll describe them later, if we get out of this." Her response was followed by a creepy sobbing, and then glass began to shower down, along with bullets.

"FUCK! Frowny. Quick!" Tex pulled herself and Carolina beside a dumpster, the metal box being the only cover nearby. "Well, it's definitely the Insurrection," Tex muttered.

"What the fuck do we do?" Carolina was trying not to freak out, but some psychopath was covering the area with bullets and she was trapped behind a dumpster with a bitch that she still wasn't sure didn't want Carolina dead

"Calm down. Text York- no wait. Don't. He'll just freak out. See that alley?" Tex pointed, and Carolina nodded. "I'll cover you. As soon as the firing stops, run for your life. Got it?"

"How are you going to cover me?" Her question was answered as Tex pulled a pistol from her boot, much to Carolina's surprise. "How'd you get that?"

"I used to work with these maniacs, remember? I'm not going to go near them unarmed. Now go!"

Tex's aim was spot on; somehow she hit close enough to the sobbing psychopath to halt his/her fire, at least for now. Carolina bolted, waiting for the moment bullets would rip through her flesh. It never came; she made it safely to the cover of another apartment. Tex followed close behind, firing until she couldn't see the window anymore.

"Ok. Now call York. Tell him to meet us where he dropped us off."

"That's three streets away!"

"So? Start running. Don't want to be here when the cops come looking for whoever made all the noise."

[Linebreak]

Grif was an amazing cook, or so he claimed. He'd have to be, else how would he get any food? Takeaway was far too expensive. When Simmons' mother had finally come home, he had ignored all protests from her, claiming that she and Simmons deserved a break.

There wasn't much food stocked in the kitchen. Grif managed to get enough ingredients to make an ok stir-fry, but he'd definitely need to make time to do shopping. He needed to ensure Simmons and his mum had as little to worry about as possible, so they could get through this easier.

"Wow, Grif. Smells nice." Simmons was notably happier than he had been all day.

"Thanks. How's studying?"

"I caught up on all my homework, should be good for now."

"Cool. Can you set the table?"

The three ate dinner in the lounge. Grif tried watching the news for a while, but once a grim story about gunshots heard earlier that night began, decided to turn it off and just chat. It was cool having Simmons' mum there, it'd been a long time since he'd hung around any adults outside of school. It was like having a mum again.

**Hope you liked it! Please review with any critism, suggestions, ideas or comments you have.**

**Oh, one more thing. What is it with the weird reviews? I mean, I appreciate them, and all, but are people trolling me? So many one word/incomprehensible reviews. I have to point out something, also. I KNOW high school AU's have been done a million times. I love the challenge of trying to break a cliché. If you don't want to read this story just because it's not a completely unique story that you've never heard of before, then fine. Go away. My hope is that it beats most other stories of this type, and besides. High school AU's are cool!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Sorry about the rantish AN last chapter. I know you guys are great, and I love getting reviews, no matter how hard they are to understand: P**

**School starts tomorrow. We'll see how that works out :/**

**Seeing how I constantly change PoV's, the story time-travels a bit. For example, Grif had just began cooking when the first bit of this chapter starts, but ends later than the last chapter did. So, yeah. A little bit more confusion, I'll try to make the time apparent as possible when it's important.**

"Calm down. They'll be fine." North continued to stare through the windscreen, not bothering to answer. York was talking to himself more than North.

Carolina's text hadn't given much information, but the urgency was obvious. North felt guilt stew in his stomach. It had been his idea to send Carolina with Tex. York would have never let Carolina go into danger without a good reason. North had reasoned with him that Carolina was best suited for this kind of mission, and if Tex planned to betray them, she'd be less likely to hurt Church's half-sister.

York stopped the car suddenly. Two figures ran out of the shadows, racing towards the car. "Neither looks like they're injured," North muttered, hoping to calm York.

"Holy crap, why does Tex have a gun?"

"In case any more of the Insurrection decide to _shoot _us." She seemed incredibly calm for someone who had just been in a gunfight. Carolina looked shaken, but somehow managed to maintain a similar calmness.

"What the fuck?" York looked close to hyperventilation.

"Just drive. I'll explain when we get to base."

North looked over at York, concern in his eyes. "Do you want me to drive? You seem a bit freaked out."

"Y-yeah. Thanks."

* * *

Tucker would never, ever, ever admit it to _anyone, _but his first kiss had been with a guy. It hadn't been a dare, and it wasn't the other guy's idea. Tucker had done it totally willingly. Unfortunately, the person he kissed hadn't been Ok with it, and neither had the people watching.

He had been teased relentlessly. Of course, once Tucker came to the realisation that kissing another guy was certainly _not _someone 'cool' does, he pushed the idea far from his head. Obviously, that wasn't enough. The bullying went well into middle school; until he decided the only way to prove he wasn't gay was to be as straight as possible. Amazingly, being an annoying douchebag constantly obsessed with sex gave him the popularity every kid in school dreamed of.

Tucker often wondered if Church had any idea of why he acted like he did. Unlikely; he'd moved to Austin long after the bullying had ended. Grif and Donut did, of course, and Tucker was always worried they'd bring it up whenever Church went after them for their sexuality.

And Simmons... Well, Simmons had been the guy Tucker kissed, so of course he knew.

_Why the hell am I remembering this _now_? _Tucker frowned at his phone, like it was at fault for the resurfacing memory. It kind of was- he had been about to text Sister when he saw Simmons' contact right above hers (Why the hell did Tucker still have his number?) and boom, questionable sexuality rediscovered.

Groaning, Tucker decided to fuck it and get out of bed, despite the early time. It was a Saturday, so he usually stayed in bed as late as physically possible, but he knew that if he didn't busy himself, that cursed memory would just spiral around his head until he wanted to pour bleach onto his brain just to forget it.

"Hey mum," he muttered when he wandered past her bedroom, knowing from the lack of reply she was still passed out from whatever she had done last night. His house was one story and small; Tucker took extra effort to be quiet, in order to not worsen her hangover if she did wake.

He was too lazy and groggy from sleep to bother cooking himself a proper breakfast. Microwaved pizza from last night would do. The pizza burned his fingers when he tried to pick it up- his loud swearing managed to wake his mum.

"Lav, could you please keep it down." She walked into the kitchen in her bathrobe, clutching her head.

Tucker half-grinned at the nickname he gave him; he could never tell if it was a shortening of his first name or a badly pronounced 'love'. Maybe both. "Sorry mum. You can go back to sleep if you want, I'll keep quiet."

"Eh, it's ok. I wasn't really sleeping anyway." She headed over to the alcohol cupboard. Tucker filled a glass with water and placed it in her hands before she could get anything from there. She looked at it for a moment, as though wondering what it was, before smiling. "Yeah, you're right. Probably shouldn't drink after last night."

"Yup." Tucker began eating, watching as his mum made herself a similar breakfast.

"So, you going over to a friend's place? What's that boy's name... Simmons?"

Tucker tried to hide a wince. Great, fate hated him. "Mum, Simmons hasn't been my friend for a long time." _Since I kissed him._

"Sorry Lav. Too many names."

Tucker didn't mind her forgetfulness, or her drunkenness. It was like living with an older friend. And she could be much worse. She could have abandoned him, like his dad did long before Tucker was born. Or she could die, or suicide... Ok, now he thought about it, maybe he should go help out Church. He'd been avoiding meeting him face-to-face, knowing more than anyone how irritable Church was. But the guy needed some support.

"Mum, I'm going out. Don't burn anything down, 'kay?"

She grinned slightly. "Ok. And that was only once!"

* * *

Theta was bored. As usual, Delta had forbidden him from leaving the house alone. Sigma was messing around with hair dye and Omega was keeping her company, therefore Theta was stuck at home whilst Delta and Gamma worked.

_No computer, no game console, and our TV never has anything I like. _He had read through all the books in the house, aside from Delta's non-fiction. The most fun he could have at the moment was by listening to Sigma try and convince Omega to colour his hair.

"No way. Just no."

"Come on! It'll look good on you."

"Sigma. No!"

"Even Delta dyed his hair, though it was just boring blonde. Seriously, one little bit of colour."

"It's not happening!"

"You could dye your hair purple. Doc would like it." This was followed by stuttering, before Omega stormed out, mercifully free of dye.

"Omega! Are you going? Can I come with you?" Omega froze at the doorway, wordlessly looking from Theta to Sigma, worry etched in his face. Theta got the message. "Nevermind. I'll stay."

Sigma noticed his upset tone. "Come on Theta. I can redo your hair."

Theta perked up quickly at that. "Ooh! Can I have more purple this time? It's really cool."

"Sure!"

* * *

It was one of the few times when Church had to face his father. "Dad, look. I _need _to go to school. It's kinda compulsory."

"Someone like you doesn't deserve education."

Church tried to ignore the hatred that coated his words. It was hard, especially when it was thrown at him daily. "If you don't pay my school fees, I'll be stuck at home all day. And besides, mum was-"

"Allison was _not _your mother. Don't you _dare _pretend shit like you came from her!"

_No. I came from you, and your stupidity. _It still kind of unnerved him that his step-mother had the same name as his girlfriend. "Ok, ok. _Allison _always ensured I went to school. If you stop that, then you're denying her wish."

He thought about it for a moment. "Fine. I'll pay the fucking fees." Church breathed a sigh of relief. Having to pay for school himself was not something he wanted to do.

With that battle won, he headed out, already late for his job. He jogged to the cafe, hoping it would be full enough to keep him busy for his entire shift. His phone alerted him of a text around the same time his boss noticed he was there.

"You're late."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"Ugh. Whatever. Get to work, you can make up the time at the end of your shift."

The text was from Tucker. **_U work yet?_**

Looking around to ensure his boss was out of sight, Church responded; **_Just starting. Y?_**

**_Got nothin 2 do. I'll keep you company. _**Church grinned. He needed a friend right then.

* * *

"But you promised!"

"Donut-"

"Pleaaase?"

"No!"

"You could take them with us." Grif glared daggers at Simmons, who was sitting beside him, until now totally uninterested in the phone conversation

"I don't want to. And how do you even know what I'm talking about?"

"All Donut ever calls you for is trips to the mall and the occasional invite to some girly thing he wants to do. And seeing you haven't hung up on him within five seconds, it's the first one.

"Is that Simmons?" Hi Simmons!"

Grif winced at the yell. "You hurt my ear, asshole."

"Can I talk to Simmons?" Grif wondered if Donut even heard what he'd said.

"He wants to talk to you." Simmons rolled his eyes and held his hand out for the phone.

Grif stared at the ground. He hated listening to one-way conversations like these.

"Hello?"

"Hi Donut-"

"It's a long story. I'm happier now, promise."

"I don't have anything against it. But Grif-"

"I really don't think that'll help convince Grif." Especially when his name was mentioned so much.

"Well, maybe. How about we take you two, split up, and meet back an hour later?"

"How long do you need for shopping?"

"Seriously? Ok, fine. But no longer."

Simmons hung up, handing the phone back.

"You were supposed to convince him not to drag us into several hours of boredom."

"Come on, it won't be that bad. And we can pick up food stuff while we're there."

"Ugh fine."

Simmons grinned and kissed him quickly. "Now you're the grumpy one. This is new."

* * *

"Hi Simmons!"

"How are you? You seem really depressed lately, are you Ok?"

"Can you and Grif take me and Sister shopping? Please?"

"Sister needs an outfit for a date with Tucker, and she's colour-blind, so it's really hard for her to do it alone."

"Ok, that's true. But still! Surely you can convince him!"

"We might need more time than that."

"Um... It might take up to two hours."

"Ok. See you soon!" Donut went to text Sister the moment Simmons hung up, informing her of his success.

Donut hummed as he checked through his email, wasting time as he waited for Grif to show up. No one but him was at home; both his parents were at work.

Grif's battered car appeared quickly; Donut and Simmons lived pretty close together. Donut raced out of his house, almost forgetting to lock up before jumping in the car.

"Shut up," Grif muttered.

"I haven't said anything!"

Grif muttered something that sounded like "_that's the point," _but Donut couldn't be sure, as Simmons talked over him.

"You know Grif hates shopping. Plus I _may_ have woken him up early today, and we don't have any Oreos at home. Best not to annoy him any further."

"Ugh, fine."

The car trip was almost silent. Donut squirmed uncomfortably; he was unused to being quiet. He hoped Grif would at least let him and Sister chat.

Sister was waiting outside when they arrived. She probably didn't even notice Simmons' warning to be quiet.

"Donut! Hi."

"Hey Kai."

"So excited. It's been a while since I've had someone else help me pick clothes. Grif refuses to."

"He'd probably be terrible at it."

"Yep. Anyway, Tucker likes aqua, right?"

"Uh..." Donut gave a nervous glance at Grif. "I think his favourite colour is actually cyan."

"Well do you think I should get cyan clothes for our date?" Donut would have told her that cyan wouldn't really fit her, but Grif yelled from the front before he could do much more than open his mouth.

"You're getting stuff for a _date?_"

"Grif," Simmons muttered, trying to calm him down.

"What the fuck, sis? Why didn't you tell me?" Grif was glaring at them from over his shoulder.

"Because you would freak out like you are now!"

"Grif!" Simmons tried to shake Grif but ended up punching his shoulder in his haste. It didn't matter anyway; there would have been no time to avoid the car they were speeding towards. Grif still tried, frantically turning the wheel and pressing the break.

"Son of a bitch!"

**Yup, I'm evil.**

**So, I've realised how much the last five chapters have been absorbed in the past... So as if these guys didn't have enough troubles, now you can witness the creation of some more! Anyway. This style of writing (focus on every character) is really goddam hard. Help please? If you guys could tell me your favourite and least favourite character in this story (not relying on the show), that'd help.**

**As usual please review with any critism, suggestions, ideas or comments you have. Bye! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is just under 2k words. 'Cause, y'know. School. Anyway, I've been thinking, perhaps I should change the update time for this story from Thursday (Australian est) to Monday, so I get a full day before that to make up for all my procrastination. What do you guys think? This might result in the next chapter being updated a few days late... It all depends on how well I do next week.**

Sheila had never been so terrified in her life. Every possible bad outcome that could occur rushed through her mind. Her phone rang again; her boss, or someone else at work wondering why she'd left so suddenly. She ignored it, focusing on the road, determined to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

It had been Simmons who'd called her; he and Kaikaina had been on the far side from the car that hit them, while Grif and Donut...

_Stop. You're panicking. All that will do is lead to you crashing, and then you can do nothing to help him. _A few deep breaths and she was mainly in control, the slight shaking of her hands the only tell to her stress and worry. All her work as a psychologist had given her great skill with calming herself down.

She arrived at the hospital, willing everything to go faster- parking, the receptionist, even the lift. She could not get to Donut's side quickly enough, but when the nurse announced her son was a door away, her haste vanished. Simmons hadn't given much information, his exact text (Sheila had memorised it during the drive) was 'Grif + Donut hurt in car crash. Me and Sister fine. We're at hospital.' Perhaps Simmons had purposely left out Donut's sate. Maybe he was dying.

_Again, panicking. Stop it. _With a brief air of determination Sheila marched through the door, not allowing her speed to change as she scanned the ward. Simmons waved at her, grimly sitting beside the two hospital beds on which lay Grif and Donut.

"Oh god." Her tone, oddly enough, was relief. Every horrible image of Donut mortally wounded or disfigured vanished. He was certainly injured- bandages coated most of his right side, and his right leg looked like it was broken, but there were no injuries on his head, and everything looked like it would heal eventually.

"Donut, I-" Of course, Sheila knew that she should finish that sentence, tell him so utterly sorry she was, how she was there for him and loved him and wished she could have protected him. The thoughts refused to become words, sticking in her throat. She sunk into a seat beside Donut, wanting to clutch his hand yet not wanting to hurt him. Tears dripped from her eyes. Sheila let them fall, not exactly sure if they were tears of relief, sadness or just stress. All of them, most likely.

* * *

Simmons couldn't help it- he was jealous of Sheila. Her first priority was Donut, who had fared notably better than Grif.

The doctor who had informed Simmons of what was wrong with Grif had been very blunt. Simmons had written down the list; like he'd ever forget. Grif had a fractured forearm, had lost three teeth, a broken nose, friction burns across his shoulder. The right side of his face had been coated in glass, and half his ear had to be stiched together. Though the doctor claimed the chances of brain damage were low, Grif had still hit his head hard, and they would not know for sure until he woke, which could take days. _What if he becomes like Caboose?_

Sister had left the room in search of a shop, claiming that chocolate calmed her down. He had asked her to get him some, and now was left alone –Sheila was too immersed with her own fears- with nothing to do but stare at Grif and fear.

_I'd give most- hell, I'd give my entire body to keep you alive. _Maybe then he could become a robot, like he had dreamed as a kid.

A grim smile touched his face. Grif would have laughed.

[Linebreak]

"Uhh..." Doc stared blankly at the wall, trying to work out how this could be a prank.

"Well?" Omega's voice seemed dull, though that was probably the phone's fault.

"Y-you want to go on a date with me?"

"Pretty much. Anyway, it's clear you don't want to. Sigma pressured me into this- sorry for wasting your time." Ok, definitely dull- and cold. Doc's stomach twisted; he had hurt Omega.

"No, wait! I would _definitely_ like to go out with you." _See, not that hard. _Doc grinned, glad that he had –for once- gained the courage to say how he felt.

"Cool! Um... what do you want to do?"

Omega seemed as unfamiliar with dating as he was. "A movie, maybe?"

"Sure. When?"

Doc was pretty sure _right now _would seem slightly desperate. "Er… Up to you. I'm free pretty much all the time."

Doc heard bits of conversation, including Sigma's voice and a male voice he wasn't too familiar with. _His brother? _"How about tomorrow night? I can't drive though; we'll have to meet there."

"That's fine." Everything was fine right now. Doc had had a crush on Omega since his sister had forced him to school with purple hair roughly a year ago. He looked so adorable with it, though his furious expression frightened him slightly. Which was why Doc hadn't dared speak to him until he and Sigma had walked up to his table.

* * *

"Fucking cockbite! You killed me!"

"Tucker-" Caboose looked over at Tucker, who was glaring back. Sheila had told him that blaming Tucker was mean. She also said that even though Tucker was mean, being mean back still wasn't nice. "I'm sorry Church."

Church gave him a smile, which made his heart flutter with excitement. Of course, Caboose didn't notice how Church had been torn between yelling at the moron and trying to be nice to him. "Another game?"

Tucker shrugged, beginning another Halo Capture the Flag match. "Have you heard from Carolina?"

"Nope," Church sounded upset. Caboose thought he should hug him, but Church would probably get mad at him. "She hasn't been home since yesterday."

"York would tell you if she was hurt. He's not that much of an asshole."

"You'd be surprised," Church grolwed.

"Why would Tucker be surprised? Are you planning a party for him? Oh! A birthday party?"

Both Tucker and Church glared at Caboose. "Shut up," muttered Church.

"You're an idiot," Tucker announced.

"Sorry Church," Caboose murmured, trying to focus on the game and not hitting Church. It was hard, seeing this round they were on seperate teams and Caboose didn't want to loose. Then again, he didn't want Church to loose either.

Caboose hated being on different teams with Church.

* * *

"Knock knock"

"Shut up Wyoming."

"Come on South, knock knock!"

South simply glared at her partner, furious at York for assigning her with Wyoming of all incredibly annoying people. What furthered her irritation was the dullness of their job- just stand by this fucking building in the middle of the night until some sketchy people show up, then follow them. She couldn't even interrogate them! Her direct orders were _see where they go then leave. _Weren't they supposed to be fighting the fucktards? "What does York have against me? Ever missi-"

"Perhaps it'd be wise for you not to speak so much? It is really annoying."

South blinked as Wyoming interrupted her. His voice was odd, and it wasn't often he spoke back to her. "Oh fuck you. _I'm annoying?_"

Wyoming walked towards her silently. South was a little bit freaked out by how _weird _he was suddenly acting. "What are you-"

"Tex described one of the Insurrection as female and blonde, yes? And all Insurrection have a red symbol tattoed on them?"

"Are you seriously acting this weird to tell me something I already know?"

Wyoming rolled his eyes and walked off, his british accent floating back; "What you don't know is said blonde girl just walked around the corner."

"Oh fuck!" Cried South, jogging to catch up with him.

"Subtlety is clearly not your strong point."

South wanted to swear at him, but didn't want to risk failing the mission. Instead she moved forward fifty metres with her middle finger raised behind her back.

"Class isn't either," Wyoming whispered.

The two continued to trail the female gang member, South ahead as most people (i.e. those that didn't know Tex) would be less alarmed by a female following them than a male. Of course, this woman had known Tex, and was a dangerous woman herself, so the strategy probably wouldn't help much. Still, it had a chance of helping, and though South and Wyoming weren't the worst at steath, they could still do with help.

South had never realised how far one could go without meeting anyone. Either this woman was making a map of every alley and side street in Austin, or she really didn't want to be noticed. Her wariness did nothing to ease South's nerves towards being caught, though she hadn't noticed her nor Wyoming yet.

The woman eventually stopped at an apartment entrance. South attempted to sneak closer, unable to see clearly. Some guy exited the building and began talking to the woman. South noted a mohawk. She tried to creep closer to eavesdrop on them, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Just watch, then leave, remember? We've found their meeting place, now we go." Wyoming muttered in her ear.

"Come on. They are _right there_."

"No," Wyoming said faltering. He meant to say it with confidence, but the unexpected cocking of a gun that is pointed at one's head will make said person's voice falter.

"Told you I was followed." The female Insurrection member stepped forward with mohawk guy. The gun was held by a third man, whos left arm was made of metal.

"Knock em out. We'll question them inside."

South looked up at robot-guy. He grinned and stepped forward. _I bet being punched by a metal hand _really _hurts. _She wasn't wrong.

* * *

Sigma was estatic. And for once, Delta was almost sure she wasn't faking it. _Maybe she is recovering, _he thought, as she planned and pestered Omega into getting excited for his date.

"Will you two please shut up?" Gamma was, for once, home. Since he graduated highschool last year, the oldest O'Malley was rarely seen, usually working or at college or wherever else he could be that wasn't hurt. Delta undersood, trying to forget the life they lead was Gamma's way of coping. He had even tried to change his name to Gary, but that was hard to do without the courts noting his siblings had no parental supervision. As much as Gamma hated this life, he didn't want to screw over the rest of them.

"Sorry Gamma," Sigma squeaked. She hushed Omega when he tried to be loud just to spite his older brother. _She's nervous of him because he looks and sounds like father. _This was something Delta already knew. While Gamma was studying law, Delta's interest was in psychology. It was through helping Sigma and raising Theta that he had gained the interest, and though Delta found it hard to grasp people's emotions, the idea of working out how people thought and felt intruiged him.

_If only I knew all the stuff I know now back then._

**I'm hinting way too much on the Sigma thing, aren't I. It's just... I've already planned the reveal scene, and it includes things I haven't even begun to add. Ugh, I'm regretting being lazy and sticking the weekend in now. I'm still on Saturday!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I was planning to put this out Monday, but I managed to finish this a day early :D. I guess if I actually do have time to publish this on Thursdays, I'll keep it as it is. If this is a one-off thing and I can't manage next week, then I'll move to Monday.**

"Sigma?"

Sigma lifted her head slowly, noticing Maine for the first time. "Hi." She muttered.

Maine didn't miss the dullness in her voice. "Are you Ok?"

Sigma met his eyes, her face frozen. Maine looked back for a minute, confused. Without warning she smiled, straightening her back and looking like her usual bright self. "Sorry, lost in thought. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

Maine shrugged. "Got bored, needed better clothes." He didn't mention how long he'd been putting off going to the mall, hating the fearful he looks he recieved. He had joined Freelancer to get that kind of fear, now he couldn't get rid of it.

"Oh, cool. Did you hear about Omega and Doc?"

Maine smirked slightly. Sigma couldn't be happier about that pairing, clearly. "Yeah, Doc called me right after Omega asked him."

"He excited?"

"Yup."

Sigma waved to someone behind Maine. Turning, he noticed Omega walking through the food court, two drinks in hand. He was looking at Maine with either confusion or anger. Maine decided upon anger.

"I'd better go. Nice seeing you."

"Um, Ok." She smiled at him as she left, and Maine wanted to smile back, but didn't want Omega getting any ideas. He liked Sigma, he had admitted that to himself days ago, but it had long been the pattern for him. Sometimes his build, voice, size and scars worked in his favour. Other times it scared everyone away, and made protective brothers despise him.

* * *

Donut woke on Sunday morning, and Simmons was proud of himself that he was relieved, proud that he could care for his friends as well as Grif.

Donut offered comfort, something which suprised Simmons. "Grif has been through hell and beyond. No car is going to bring him down." It was a stupid thing to say, but Donut's confidence made its way to Simmons. Maybe Grif would be ok. Maybe.

Sheila, too, helped now she'd gotten away from her own terror. She _complimented _Simmons on his bravery and dedication with sticking by Grif, something Simmons had no idea would affect him so much. Maybe because he didn't recieve much compliment in his life, or becuase it reminded him that people cared about him other than Grif. Whatever the reasons, those two managed to give Simmons the hope he needed to keep waiting.

Sister, on the other hand, wasn't coping too well. She pretended to, claiming that she'd rather be at home than at the hospital, reassuring everyone that she knew how to take care of herself. Which was true, but only physically. The aching worry that Grif mightn't come out of this unchanged was _always _on her mind.

Grif had replaced both her parents. He had raised her, ensured she had whatever she needed. He had protected and taught her, stood by her and helped her whenever she needed it. Without Grif, Sister had no idea what to do.

_"I'll always be here. I'm not mum, or dad. If you're scared or hurt or upset, come to me."_

That was what he had told her the last time she'd hurt herself. Sister had promised never to do it again, and he had promised to never leave her.

_What if he has now? _Sister told herself to snap out of it. She was not weak like she once was. And besides, Grif would come back. With that in mind she stood, heading to the kitchen to get herself some food and be normal.

It was a mistake; once she saw the knives her body froze. She remembered this feeling, the will to use her own body as a canvas, to release all that sadness turned into anger, to concerntrate on her physical pain so the pain in her mind faded. She knew herself. It would only be a matter of time until the part that wanted her to be strong gave up.

And Sister was scared, because Grif had been.

* * *

York knew who was calling before he picked up the phone.

"Has there been any-"

"North." York spoke firmly, "You will be the very first person I contact if anyone finds anything."

"Ok," North muttered and hung up. The fear and stress in his voice couldn't be more obvious. York sighed and turned back to his laptop. The information they had was almost all from Tex, and none of it pointed to where South and Wyoming might be held. His only relief was that there was a chance, at least, the two were alive.

_I still have no idea what to do. _York was the boss. He'd always liked that idea; he was in charge, no one could tell him what to do. But now he was expected to think his way out of this.

Tex had made his situation very clear to him when he'd tried to ask her for help.

_"It's your job. You told them to go in there, you have to get them out of there, don't expect me or anyone else to do it."_

_"It's not my fault they were caught."_

_"You're the leader. It will _always _be your fault."_

York sighed. He would remember that last sentece for the rest of his life. _It will always be my fault. North will blame me if something happens to South._

What could he do, though? He had no clues as to where they were.

York had a list of every gang member before him. None could help South or Wyoming...

_Gary! _Gary had been good friends with Wyoming before he graduated. He was another hope.

Of course, there was the problem of contacting him. York had access to Valhalla's records, and therefore knew the O'Malley's number. He just didn't want to have to deal with Delta or Omega.

_This is my job. Their lives are more important than my comfort._

The phone had barely begun to rung before Delta picked up. "Hello?"

Oh, great. Robot voice. "Hi. Can I talk to Gary?"

"Am I correct in my guess that you are York?"

_Could have said that with three words dude. _"Yep."

"Why do you wish to speak with my brother?"

"Um... It's a long story."

"And you do not wish to tell me it." Delta sighed, and York guessed he'd put the phone down. A few minutes later a voice even more robotic spoke.

"Hello."

"Hi, Gary?"

"Yes?"

"You still close with Wyoming?"

"I am. Why?"

"Uhm..."

"Is this to do with Freelancer?"

"Yeah."

"I would rather talk to you without my siblings annoying me. Where are you right now?"

* * *

"Sigma, I'm _not _dyeing my hair. End of."

"Ugh, fine." Sigma's moody voice didn't go unnoticed by Omega.

_She's acting like that on purpose. She knows how it'll affect me. _Omega looked up at her upset face and felt his stomach twist with guilt. "Ok, fine. Just the tips of my hair, though. Nothing else." _Dammit. It worked._

"Yes!" Sigma attacked him with a towel, covering his clothes. Omega tried to focus on Sigma's cheery humming and not on the purple colouring seeping into his black hair.

"I hope Doc won't mind."

"He loves purple, remember?"

"Mh. I suppose so."

Sigma was quick; barely half an hour had passed before his hair was dry, short black now merging into dark purple.

"You look-"

"Stupid," Omega muttered. Sigma muttered another, kinder adjective, which he didn't hear. "Anyway, what's the time?"

"Seven-thirty."

"What!" Sigma grinned at his horror. His date was planned for seven-thirty.

"Sorry, just seven."

"You did that on purpose you evil little..." He trailed off, not really sure what he was about to call her.

Sigma grinned. "Still, you should probably get going. Bye." With that she pushed him towards the front door.

Omega left the house, heart racing. He was tense. This was his first date since Tex... Omega dearly hoped his relationship with Doc wouldn't end like it did with Tex.

_"The percentages of that happening again are below five percent."_ Thank god for Delta and his logic. Still, Omega dreaded that five percent.

* * *

South's jaw really hurt. So did the back of her head. Her arms were aching too, weirdly positioned tightly behind her back. She tried to move them in front of her, but a burning around her wrists stopped the movement.

_I'm tied up._ Well, that explained it.

Her calm left her suddenly as the post-unconciousness haze cleared and her head pounded harshly. _What the fuck? What am I doing here?_ Panicking more than slightly, South pulled at her bonds around her hands and legs, yelling curses to the walls. She couldn't see much of the room she was in. A crack beneath a door was the only source of light.

"Be quiet." The voice came from across the room. South was almost relieved to hear the familliar, annoying british accent.

"Wyoming?"

"Yes. Congratulations for figuring that out."

"Shut up."

"No," he replied cooly. He didn't say anything else though, leaving South to try and break the ropes around her limbs in silence.

"What do we do now?"

"There's little we can do at the moment. We wait, either for rescue or for whoever captured us to do something."

"Sounds fun." South had thought the _mission_ was boring. Now she was stuck sitting here for who knew how long, and Wyoming was silent.

The light from behind the door, when it finally opened, was blinding. "You're both awake. Good."

South recognised the speaker; she was the girl the two had been tracking. Another familliar face was mohawk guy. Two other unfamilliar people stood by their sides, a very muscled man with short sleeves, and a creepy guy who would freak South out even without the weird smiley-face mask.

"What do you want?" South hissed. Afraid though she was, she wasn't about to show it.

"Information," Mohawk guy answered. "Why were you following us, for one."

South gave him an innocent little smile. "Why would we follow you?" Mohawk guy rolled his eyes. South hadn't expected him to fall for it. It was more a silent 'shut up I aint telling you anything' than an answer.

"Ok. Second question. Where's Allison?"

"Who?"

"He means Texas, South." Wyoming's voice was dull and patronising.

"Ah, so she's part of your little gang now. You have states for codenames?"

"No, we just call her that because she's from Texas." It was kind of true; Tex's nickname had been originally been given to her by York when he'd first tried to recruit her, due to the fact she had recently moved from central Texas. It'd stuck despite her refusal.

"Right. And your parents named you South?"

South glared at Wyoming. Totally his fault.

"Back on topic. If Tex is in your gang, you'd know where she is."

Wyoming replied this time. "No, actually. We have no idea where she is, due the fact we appear to have spent the last few hours locked up in a basement."

"A day, actually. And you're several floors up from basement." Girlie grinned, happy to call Wyoming out on his mistake. South wondered what had happened in the past day. _North will be terrified, _she thought with concern.

"But you'll know where she lives, where she hangs out."

"Nope," South replied, truthfully this time. "I don't give a fuck about Tex. Don't know what she does with her life aside from fucking Carol-"

"South!"

Shit. Mohawk guy didn't miss the slip-up. "Carol... Carolina, I'm guessing." Their silence confirmed his thoughts.

"So Carolina is in a relationship with Allison?"

South couldn't hide a laugh. Wyoming sniggered. "I think South meant to say Carolina's brother."

"Hmm... Ok."

"What's your interest in Tex anyway?"

"She was our best member. We need her back."

"Wait, what?"

* * *

Doc was exhausted. Happy, but tired nonetheless. He had forgotten all his stress in the last few hours; studies, his friends and his family didn't seem important anymore. He'd get around to it, did it matter? Doc grinned, knowing how foolish he was. He also wasn't one to deny his own feelings.

_I'm in love with him. _The thought sent joy through his body. He wanted to tell someone. Wash and Maine would scoff at him. They were 'tough', the kind of people that believed love was the worst tabboo word.

_Donut!_ Doc grinned. Donut always got that stuff, and would adore the gossip. It was late, though. _I'll tell him at school. _Doc grinned, already forgetting Donut. Omega would be there too.

**Right. So I suck at relationships so bad I skipped the actual date :P. Don't look at this fanfic if you want fluff guys. I deal in depression and gangs 'nd stuff. And it took me eight chapters to get to the Donut-Doc-Omega love triangle thingy I wanted. Seriously, I'm slow at moving plot.**

**Review with any critism, suggestions, ideas or comments and stuff. I'll see you Thurday or Monday :D**

**Oh! Right, one more thing. What are your opinions on flashbacks? Hate them in fanfics, like in small amounts, or what?**


	9. Chapter 9

**This is exactly 2000 words. How the hell did I manage that? XD So yeah, managed to finish this a day early again. Totally didn't write half of it during school.**

Wash was always uncomfortable being alone. He had come to school early, and Maine hadn't. Every person moving past sent his heart racing, anytime someone brushed against him he wanted to run, to flee the attackers in his mind.

_Stop it. You'll be fine._

Wash headed to his locker in the deserted corridor, fumbling with the key and almost dropping it when he heard footsteps. _Coward. _

"Hello Washington."

"Gah!" With that manly scream Wash fell backwards, his locker door swinging slightly beside Epsilon's shoulder.

Epsilon giggled, watching Wash try to right himself. "I am infinitely glad I did not kill you; you are so much more fun alive."

"M-Maine-"

"Is not here at the moment." Epsilon grinned, leaning forward so that his face was above Wash. Wash was already against the wall; scrambling away was not an option. Epsilon was right. Maine wasn't here- he wasn't going to rescue him as he had before.

"Shame you can't just delete me like you did with Vic's computer." Epsilon said this a little too loudly, and Wash wanted to curl up into a ball. Epsilon had been threatening to tell a teacher _that_ tale for a long time.

Wash had been new at Valhalla when York first began trying to recruit him. David, as he called himself back then, made himself known at the school with a prank that he had long wanted to pull off; hacking into Vic's, the principal's computer and planting an E.M.P. The moment he started the computer, all files were deleted and his computer and those of anyone who was accessing the school internet at the time crashed. It had caused the entire school to shut down for a day while they tried to recover all the files. The teachers were furious, of course, but never knew he had done it. Wash had used some ex-student, Gamma, as a scapegoat; some name he plucked from the school records.

The majority of students, however, knew within a week. David was praised as a computer genius. Few people even knew what an E.M.P. was, and most insisted on calling it an emp, something that never failed to annoy him.

Wash's popularity vanished the moment North first asked him to join Freelancer, and Wash said no. He hadn't wanted to be part of something so obviously illegal; sure he liked messing with computers, but that never involved hurting people.

They persisted, however. North tailed him, acting as if the two were friends, giving him the name 'Washington" and driving any actual friends he had managed to gain during his short time at Valhalla away.

Wash was stubborn, and kept refusing. York might have given in, had he not so desperately needed someone with computer skills.

Epsilon's orders had been to 'convince' Wash, though not to kill him if he refused.

"I decided to break his order the moment he gave it," Epsilon muttered, looking at Wash with a sadistic, cold gaze that honestly scared Wash. No one else he'd ever met looked like that; as though they didn't care about anything at all. Sure, he'd met people who pretended they didn't, but Epsilon was real. He had no morals, no fears or conscience.

"York still pretends to have control over me, you know. Even after you. Maybe I should remind him." Epsilon's grin widened as he crouched, hands dancing inches from Wash's throat.

"R-remind him?"

"Oh, don't worry. You would be a useless gesture. He's never told me not to hurt you again, and didn't I say I prefer you alive? No, I'm sure there'll be someone else. Some other person York doesn't want dead. It'll be fun too; it's been a long time since I've hurt someone as badly as I did with you."

Epsilon traced a line across his chest. He didn't actually touch him, but Wash still felt the scar beneath the cloth ache dully. "Your screams were the best part. I still love how you said you would join Freelancer before I even used the knife. York had claimed he'd tried everything before coming to me. All he needed to do was threaten you."

"York doesn't like violence." Wash was almost surprised he could talk; he was frozen against the floor.

"No, he doesn't." Epsilon pressed on a stab wound on his shoulder that had never properly healed, and Wash winced in pain. He got the message- 'don't talk'. "Which is stupid, honestly. He makes a pitiful gang member, even with his breaking and entering skills. A gang _leader_? Certainly not."

"You would make a better leader, I suppose?" Epsilon's silent warning had compelled him to speak more, out of spite. He may not stand a chance against Epsilon physically; he had too much experience, but he could at least try and hide his fear; which he knew would frustrate his attacker.

"No, I'd rather not be a leader." Epsilon pressed a knee into his stomach, causing Wash no small amount of pain. "Leaders tend to get killed pretty frequently. Besides, it's fun to watch York try and be a grown-up."

"York is fifteen."

"York is an immature teenager. Same as you."

"And what makes you so grown up and special?"

Epsilon punched his jaw hard. "That." Wash tried to think through the pain and come up with a witty response, but was having trouble, due to Epsilon's hands pressing against his throat. "You really are stupid, David. What do you hope to gain by speaking back to me? Do you think it'll put us on equal ground?"

"N-no I-"

Epsilon's grip tightened and Wash stopped talking, thrashing and trying to get Epsilon off him.

"Get away from him!" Wash's first thought was Maine, but the voice was nothing like his.

"Why should I, O'Malley?"

"Epsilon, please."

"_Epsilon, please._" He copied Doc's voice, cackling. "So polite. You still surprise me pussyfest."

"Fuck off Epsilon." Wash heard the sound of a foot hitting flesh and his neck was released. Wash sat up quickly, ready to defend himself. An unnecessary precaution; Epsilon was leaving, walking away angrily. Doc offered his hand, which Wash accepted, standing with his help.

"Thanks." Omega shrugged, glaring after Epsilon.

"Wash, are you Ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't want Doc mothering him.

Doc turned to his locker. "What did he want?"

_Fun. _"I have no idea."

"He's insane," Omega muttered. "He wanted to mess with you because he enjoys it."

"Where's Maine?"

Wash didn't know. "Maybe he's not at school yet?"

"What's Maine got to do with this?" Omega asked.

"He's the only one Epsilon's scared of."

"He's not scared of him," Wash murmured. "He just knows Maine isn't afraid of _him_."

* * *

"Come on Simmons, you can get through this." Donut hadn't missed Simmon's moodiness. Despite the crutch that hindered him, Donut had insisted on returning to school.

Simmons sighed, staring at the ground. "I'll be fine Donut."

Donut rolled his eyes and grabbed Simmons' arm, leading him through the corridors. "What do we have first?"

"English."

"Ok, so get your stuff." Donut went to his own locker, while Simmons slowly reached for his key. He tried to shake of the depression-induced tiredness, with little success. Images of Grif waking alone, or the doctors deciding he wouldn't wake and to give up on life support, played through his mind. How the hell was he expected to concentrate on school with that?

"Maybe I should just go home." He had been determined earlier that he would continue as normal, but the determination had been leaked out of him by fear. He looked over at Donut, deciding to just leave. His mum would understand. "Hey, Donut?" Donut didn't reply, just looking at his phone with a frozen face. "Donut?"

"Y-yeah?" Simmons noticed the crack in his voice, and the tears forming in his eyes. Donut couldn't be described as someone who cried rarely, yet this reaction was still odd.

Simmons pulled the phone from his half-limp hands, reading the text.

It was from Doc. **_Donut! I went out with Omega yesterday! I think I'm in love 3! ttyl, I need someone who listens._**

"I should have listened to Grif and just asked him out."

"Donut..."

"I'm fine. It's nothing." Donut forced a smile, blinking through the tears.

Simmons wasn't going to leave Donut alone, not when he was putting this much effort to help Simmons. He grabbed Donut's hand, in a very un-Simmons gesture, and lead him to their seats. "Come on, we'll get through the day together."

* * *

Lopez hated school. It wasn't because of boring classes (though the classes were most definitely boring), it was because not one single person in this stupid school, besides his brother, spoke his mother tongue. _"Plus, they're all idiots," _he muttered, watching some pink-wearing fruit chat to his friend.

_"They're not that bad."_

Lopez glared at Dos.0. _"Shut up. And your nickname is still stupid."_

_"Do you really have to remind me of that every day?"_

_"Yes."_

Dos.0 rolled his eyes and walked off, chatting to Felix in unsteady English.

"Hello mister burrito!"

_"Really?" _Lopez turned around to glare at the large boy behind him. _"Could you be more racist?"_

"Have you seen Church?"

_"No. Go away." _Lopez knew enough English to understand him and reply, but he honestly couldn't bother.

"Um, ok." The blonde moron walked off, humming cheerily to himself. Lopez resumed trying to ignore the rest of the school.

* * *

"Hey! Green guy!" Delta didn't seem to notice him. "Delta!"

He stopped and looked at York quizzically."What about me inspires the title 'green guy?'"

"Your creepy eyes," York muttered. "Better than 'Greek guy'. Why are you guys named after Greek letters anyway?"

_Our father was named Alpha. Mum named us after him. _"You are afraid of my eyes?"

"No, they're just weird. Anyway, can you give your brother this?" York handed him a black USB.

"Which brother?"

"Gar-Gamma."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why does my brother require this from you?"

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, see you." York left, leaving Delta to ponder over the piece of hardware.

* * *

Tex wasn't at school yet. Church wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried. He'd put off coming to school as much as possible, though had finally given in when it was a choice between stay alone with his dad or go.

Tucker, blessedly, didn't mention Church's obvious stress. "Hey man, did you hear about Grif?"

"No, what about him?" He didn't really care, but random gossip was less painful than Tex.

"He and Donut got in some car crash. Apparently he's still out of it."

"Who told you that?"

"Sister."

Oh crap. Right, Tucker was dating Grif's Sister. Suddenly Church gave a fuck about this. "Is she ok?"

Tucker shook his head. "She claims she is..."

"But you don't believe her?"

"No. I mean, Grif's basically her brother _and _her dad. She told me once he's the only person that's never abandoned her."

"Now he's gone. That'd hurt."

"Yep."

"Is she at school?"

"I don't think she's even awake. She hasn't replied to any of my texts."

Church was struggling to think of a comforting reply when Tex walked into the classroom. She seemed tired, wandering to her locker without a word. "Tex..."

She turned around, glared at Church and resumed getting ready for class. "What do you want, Church?"

"Uh..." What did he want? To make sure she was Ok? To resume their argument from Friday? "York's an asshole and being in a gang is a stupid idea,"

"Church..."

"But it's your life. I'm not going to try and make decisions for you."

Tex seemed startled. "That seems unlike you."

Church shrugged. "Got tired of staying with dad." He wasn't about to admit how badly he wanted her back.

"Oh, ok then. You're forgiven, by the way."

"Forgiven for what? I didn't do anything." Church grinned cockily. Tex rolled her eyes and walked towards the desk beside Church's. He didn't miss the fact she was smiling.

**Epsilon is so much fun to write. I need more of him in my story... Holy crap I'm creepy XD. I've been meaning to add Lopez in for weeks, I kept forgetting. **

**So, yeah. I'm cruel, everyone's depressed, see ya next week.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yaay! Chapter 10! I bet none of you even noticed that, huh? First time a story of mine's reached double-digit chapters :D Anyway, I'm proud of myself! Managed to finish this one two days early. Totally not 'cause some of it I'd written before chapter five...**

Caboose liked his English teacher. The old man had a slow, steady voice which he found calming. He also let Caboose do what he wanted, which was nice; some teachers kept trying to get him to do stuff he didn't understand. Even with Sheila's help.

Sheila wasn't with him now, though. Instead some other student with a weird voice sat beside him. His voice was called something… What was it? Bobbish? Brotish? Yeah, that sounded right. The Brotish boy was scribbling in his book, some picture Caboose didn't understand.

"What's that?" Caboose nudged his hand, causing the pen to slide across the paper.

"Jesus Christ, seriously? You just stuffed it up." He glared at Caboose for a moment, not seeming to be affected by Caboose's friendly smile. Eventually he went back to trying to fix his drawing.

Huh. Maybe the teacher knew what the Brotish boy was doing. "Principal Miller?"

Mr Miller looked up with an irritated scowl, making his way through the rows of desks. "I'm not the Principal, Caboose. Vic is. Now, can I help you?"

"What's he doing?" Caboose pointed, and the kid blushed, shoving his drawing out of sight.

"Jo-annes, what _are _you doing?"

Joannes muttered something under his breath which sounded like '_Jones_'. "Nothing sir."

"Yeah," Miller grumbled. "You're doing nothing. Get to work."

Joannes muttered an apology and reached for his book. "I thought I hated you enough when you were an asshole." He muttered darkly. He wasn't looking his way, but even Caboose knew who he was talking to.

_Why does everyone hate me?_

* * *

"Hello Theta." Delta muttered, already heading to the cafeteria.

"Hi." Theta followed him closely, chatting on about his class. Out of all his siblings, Theta was closest to the blonde. Omega and Sigma always stuck together, and Gamma hated Theta's childishness.

"Um.. Dee... The cafeteria's that way."

"I have to go to the library. I'll meet you in a bit."

"Aww, come on! You go to the library all the time, what's so urgent that you need to go to the school's shitty one?"

Delta frowned at Theta's language. "I'm just curious about something." Theta noticed some small object in his older brother's hand. "I won't be long."

Theta groaned and gave up, walking towards the cafeteria on his own. "Now I'm being ditched by my brother as well. Great."

Theta wandered over to the cafeteria, which was already filling. The Freelancer table was pretty full; he made an effort to keep away from there. Especially since Epsilon seemed notably happy. Creep.

"North?" The Freelancer in question was sitting alone, head buried beneath arms, at the table where Theta usually sat. He looked up, and Theta's wish to run faded slightly. Even with all the scary stories about gang members and Theta's terror of ending up like Wash, North's expression concerned and him. He looked... empty, and hopeless. It reminded him of Sigma, like she was when she thought no one was looking.

"Uh... Hi."

"A-are you ok?"

North studied Theta. Why would the kid give a fuck? _Lie, _some corner of his mind told him. He wouldn't care about South; North didn't want Theta's pity anyway. Right? _Theta has siblings. He'd understand where York doesn't._

"Fuck it," North mumbled, not loud enough for anyone but himself to hear. In a louder yet unsteady voice, he explained to Theta what had happened. "South's gone missing, a-and she could be hurt, or dead. I don't know where she is, who has her, what they want... I can't help her." The last sentence brought tears to his eyes. The next few moments were spent blind as he tried to hide them. Therefore it was a surprise when small arms wrapped around his torso. Theta was hugging him? What the hell?

"It's not your fault." The kid muttered.

"You're wrong." North wanted to push away; he was surrounded by students, many of whom were looking his way. But he couldn't deny it felt soothing. "It _is_ my fault. I should have volunteered to go on the mission, instead of her."

"But you didn't. Because you didn't know. You couldn't have, no more than you can go back and change it now. You can keep moping here, or you can try and get her back if she _is_ still alive, or find a way to cope if she isn't."

"One, how the hell am I supposed to cope with _that, _and two, how the fuck do you know all that?" The kid was what? Thirteen?

"You'll find a way. It gets easier quicker than you'd expect." Theta looked at him with somber eyes, and North remembered hearing about how the O'Malleys were orphans, or something along those lines.

* * *

"Maine! Hi!" Several thoughts ran through Maine's head as Sigma ran towards him, the foremost being, _'Stop enjoying the fact she noticed you.' _

"Uhm... Hello."

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for Wash. I haven't seen him all morning." He didn't tell her how much that worried him.

"He's with Doc and Omega. Come on!" She grabbed his arm gently, leading the huge teenager across the school. Maine grinned at how ridiculous the sight must have been. "So, why do you still call yourself Maine?"

"What?" He still wasn't used to Sigma randomly starting up conversations.

"Well, you left Freelancer, right? So why do you use your codename?"

"Same reason Wash does, I suppose. It stuck."

"Do you _like _being called Maine? I mean, I could call you something else if you wanted..."

Maine actually had to think about it. No one had ever asked him that. He'd always taken it for granted that that memory of his part in Freelancer would stay forever. _Did _he like it? "I don't think I mind. It's just a name."

"Oh, ok then Maine." Sigma's smile was infectious, or maybe Maine just loved her smile. "We're here! Hey guys!" Doc returned Sigma's frantic waves, and Wash smiled. He seemed ok, to Maine's relief. Omega, however, didn't let his eyes leave Maine. The ex-Freelancer felt a twinge of fear. Sigma's twin still didn't like him. He seemed worried.

_Worried I'll hurt her._ Goddam it.

* * *

Tucker couldn't focus. No matter how much his teachers yelled at him, he couldn't bring himself to give a shit about the work given to him. It wasn't like he couldn't do it, it just didn't seem important.

He knew about Sister's past coping mechanisms; there had been a month at school when all anyone talked about was the girl who was in hospital for attempted suicide. And while Grif and Sister bickered almost as much as Tex and Church did, she still clearly cared for her brother. Tucker's worry grew as the period went on. By the time it was lunch, he'd already decided what to do.

He didn't bother saying bye to Church; he could text him later if anything came up. Instead he headed straight for his locker, grabbed his bag and walked out of school. Detention wasn't worth shit against his girlfriend's life.

The walk to the Grifs' house was pretty long, but he didn't have any money for a bus and didn't want to wait anyway. As long as he was moving, he could convince himself he was doing _something_.

When he finally got there -ok, so it was a lot further away than he'd thought- Tucker noticed the lack of a car in the driveway. Had Sister gone out, or was the car still a wreck after the crash? Maybe they couldn't afford to repair it.

"Kai?" The front door was locked. He repeated the name again, louder this time. _Please let her be fine please let her be fine please let her be-_

"Tucker?"

Oh thank god. Sister was disheveled and sleepy, still in pajamas, but she was ok! "Hey."

"It's one-thirty."

"Yeah. I know."

"You skipped school?"

"Uh... Yes."

Sister gave a weak smile and opened the door. "Come in, I suppose."

Tucker tiptoed in. He was always weirdly nervous whenever he went to Sister's place, as if Grif would barge in suddenly. It didn't help seeing all the pictures of him with Sister, and Simmons...

There were no pictures of their parents. All he'd known about them was from Sister, and all she'd told him was her mother had joined the circus as both a bearded _and _fat lady.

"So... how are you doing?"

Sister shrugged. "I'm not the best. But... I'm coping."

Tucker could always tell when she was lying. He reminded her of this fact by crossing his arms and giving her a stern look.

"Ok, so maybe I could be better."

"Let me see your arms." Sister sighed, and Tucker feared the worst. Two shaky lines crossed her left arm, just below the wrist.

"I'm sorry, ok? It's just... I can't believe he could be gone."

Tucker stared at those two little lines. They didn't look that bad, but then again, that's how all this started. A few little lines would eventually turn into Sister in the hospital, or dead. "I'm not going to leave you until all this is over," he promised, hugging her tightly.

* * *

"Doc?"

Doc looked up, confusion touching his expression at Omega's look of worry. "What is it?"

"Look out for Maine."

"Why?"

Omega frowned. He seemed unable to look up. "He and Sigma are getting really close."

"Maine adores her! She's so friendly and happy around him. Usually everyone's afraid-"

"She's not."

"Huh?" Omega sounded annoyed. Doc mentally checked over his words, wondering how he could have offended him.

"She's not _happy_." He muttered angrily.

"But... I don't get it. What does Maine have to do with this?" Silently he disagreed with Omega. Sigma was the cheeriest person he knew. Second only to Donut, perhaps.

"Maine looks like he could kill someone."

His voice was calm, but Doc thought he was joking. He had to be. What the hell would Sigma have to do with Maine if he could kill someone? "Why... What?" One question stuck. "Who?"

Omega found the courage to look at Doc, black eyes meeting grey-blue. "Our father."

Silence.

"What?" Doc finally managed to whisper. "W-why would Sigma want your father dead?"

Omega looked down again. Doc guessed he hadn't told this story many times. "When our mother died a few years ago, our dad used alcohol to numb his grief. It was almost a month after I first began dating Texas that he started hurting Sigma. My brothers and I... we had no idea. I was with Tex more than not, Delta and Theta stayed in the public library until it closed and Gamma spent as little time at home as he could. Sigma... I think she didn't want us confronting dad and getting hurt ourselves.

"I came home early in the morning once to find Delta yelling at dad. Dee had found Sigma crying on her bed, half-naked with blood..." Omega tried to subtly blink away the liquid pooling over his eyes. "...blood between her thighs."

Doc blinked, aghast. "He... raped her?"

Omega's expression changed from sadness to anger. "I-I could have stopped him! Had I not been with Tex she'd never have to _fake _her happiness or suffer through nightmares... We got rid of dad soon enough, chased him off with threats of a jail cell to his own. We preferred not to take it to a court; all of us agreed we could take care of ourselves, so long as we could stick together."

"And what about Tex? What happened with her?"

"I had less time for her. Delta and Gamma had to work, so I had to look after Theta and Sigma. None of us wanted to leave her alone. Also... I know it's irrational and stupid, but the small part of me that didn't hate myself blamed Tex. Each time I saw her, I couldn't help thinking 'if it weren't for you, I would have protected Sigma and she'd never have been hurt.'"

Doc had nothing to comfort Omega with. He himself felt horrible; how had he missed all that? He'd thought Sigma was the second happiest person he knew...

Instead of words, Doc pulled him into a gentle hug. Omega returned the embrace somewhat hesitantly, as was his nature, though he was grateful for the gesture.

"Just watch out for Maine. I don't want him to get dragged into this."

**Soooo... Yeah. I have nothing to say, tell me what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**'Sup guys. I am done. (just finished, a little late) and now can't think of anything to put here. I'm sure there was supposed to be something...**

The USB's files were password protected. Of course, that hardly slowed Delta. Even if he couldn't guess the password (carol), he'd have been able to get past it. _Did York think I wouldn't, or did he trust me not to pry? _The latter would be unlikely; Delta had shown no sign of even liking the gang leader.

Delta decided he'd figure it out later and began looking through the files. Most of them were based around Freelancer; a list of their current members and past bases, trivial things that didn't really catch Delta's attention. He was more curious as to why York was giving Gamma all this information.

An odd file name caught his eye; Insurrection. Another password blocked his access. Delta could get past it, and he would. Yet lunch was almost over. He'd have to do it at home. _Hopefully I'll have enough time to work out what this is before Gamma becomes suspicious. _

* * *

It was Music, again. Being one of the few electives that didn't seem to involve that much work, a lot of the students had chosen it. Tex regretted it dearly, especially seeing she now had to spend a double period listening to Caboose's ramblings. "Caboose, shut up!" This had more of an effect than Tex had expected; Caboose suddenly silenced, staring at his hands which had moved from dancing through the air as he spoke to being held tightly in his lap.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, staring at the desk before him.

"Uh... Caboose?" The way he tried to hide his large build by being completely still made her guilty. Tex had gotten on well with Caboose once. Sure, he'd never been Delta-smart, but he'd never tried to hit on her, or acted like a self-absorbed asshole or any of the many things that ticked her off. He also respected her physical strengths, and she -though she'd hardly admit it now- respected his. That, of course, was before the Insurrection found her again, and left Caboose as he was, a childish moron who tried to chase after butterflies if he saw them.

"I'm sorry," she admitted. "What do you want to make our song about?"

Caboose took a while to realise Tex wasn't going to continue yelling at him, then significantly more time thinking. "Church!" He suddenly exclaimed.

"Church?"

"Yeah!" Caboose seemed thrilled by the idea. "We can write about how he's our best friend!"

_That would annoy the hell out of Church. _Despite the fact they were no longer fighting, the idea was incredibly amusing to Tex. "How about we write how _you're _his best friend." She wasn't going anywhere near cheesy love-songs.

"Ok!"

* * *

Simmons felt weird sitting beside an empty spot. Only he and Donut occupied the four-seat table, and it seemed very empty. "So, uh... what are we doing?"

"Making a song," Donut muttered, writing.

Simmons looked over at Donut's book, and paled as he read the lyrics. "We are _not _doing that."

"Why not?"

"Because! I am not singing... that, in front of the class!"

"You can't sing anyway. I'll do it."

"I'm not going to be _associated _with that in front of the class."

Donut rolled his eyes. "You're so self conscious. Besides, I've already written most of the lyrics. If you payed attention last week, you could have picked what we did."

"Ugh. Fine. But take out that." The next two hours were spent with Simmons picking out things he didn't want, and Donut completely ignoring him.

* * *

"So, where is your partner?" Flowers didn't miss the way Carolina's eyes flickered to her left before she replied.

"I dunno. Sick, probably."

"Uh huh." Flowers looked over Carolina's notes, which didn't contain much. "Can I offer my advice?"

"For the music?"

Flowers shook his head. "Don't blame him."

"What?"

"Just because someone is in the role of a leader, doesn't mean they have to work alone. A team sticks together, they should keep sticking together even when bad things happen. It is as much all your fault as it is no one's."

"Wait... What are you talking about?" _How the hell do you know about this?_

Flowers smiled. "Sometimes, things like this are just obvious."

"What are you suggesting I do?"

"Help him. He's beating himself up over this. He'd do the same for you, wouldn't you?"

Carolina looked over at York, noting his blind eye. _He would do anything for me._

* * *

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up!"

Andy simply grinned and continued, much to Church's annoyance. "You find out she had balls... then over the weekend realise you don't mind guys?"

"Tex is _not _a guy."

Andy snorted. "I lived with her. I'd know."

"You were her roommate. For a _week!_"

"It was a very interesting week." Andy almost managed to sound somber, but the shit-eating grin was still stuck to his face.

"Fuck you." To think, Church had once laughed at Tex for not being able to stand a week with this guy. It had been fifteen minutes. He already wanted to kill himsel-Andy. He already wanted to kill Andy.

"What's the problem?" Church glared at Flowers. Fucking asshole, he knew exactly what the problem was.

"Church won't help me." Flowers was far from gullible; how the hell did Andy expect the teacher to believe him?

"What have _you_ done then, Andy?"

"...nothing." Church hid a smirk. Idiot.

"Do either of you have any ideas?"

Andy shook his head, Church shrugged. He might be able to think of something if he gave a fuck, but he really didn't care.

"Anything important to the two of you?"

What was important to Church? Carolina, he supposed, but as if he was going to write a song about his half-sister.

Andy clearly had nothing also. Flowers sighed, unwilling to let these two do nothing. "Well, think about it. What's something- a thing by the way, not a person- that you think you could write about." Flowers knew very well how stubborn teenagers were when it came to being open about other people.

_A thing? The hell does that mean?_

* * *

Omega seemed stressed. He wasn't focusing on their work, just staring blankly at the few lyrics he'd written.

"What's wrong?" His twin nudged his arm gently, more curious than worried.

"Sigma..." He held her gaze for a moment before looking down, sighing. "It's nothing."

Sigma rolled her eyes. "You're usually better at lying than that."

"Look- Just leave it, OK?"

"Ugh, fine." She looked over his arm and read aloud, "_We are fragments and pieces, when it's all over we all will pay. _Creepy."

Omega shrugged. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's cool. Maybe put a 'just' there though." Sigma pointed and Omega nodded, marking in the edit. It was astonishing how easily he could pretend Sigma really was happy. He was faking it as much as she was.

[Linebreak]

"Blow me away? Seriously?"

"It's funny!"

"No. It is _so_ far from funny."

"I don't see why you hate it so much."

Simmons sighed, leaning slightly on his locker. "We have to present these to the entire class. I don't know about you, but I'm done with people bullying me."

"So you're just going to pretend you're straight?"

"No, I don't mean that. Just not be so _obvious._"

Donut scoffed. "How come people like Church and Tex can be so _obvious _about their straightness, but I can't be the same, just because I like guys?"

"Donut- I'm not saying it's _wrong,_"

"You just don't like it. You changing your mind about your sexuality, Simmons? Should I make a note to tell Grif?"

That stung. So did the fact that Donut was taking this so personally. Simmons was just trying to warn him! "No! Donut, it's not that! It's stupid, I _know _that. But people here _are _stupid. If you go through with that song, it'll just give more ammo to assholes."

"I don't care what Church thinks or says! He can't hurt us without Caboose!"

"Have you forgotten about Tex?"

"Tex won't bother us unless we bother her. She doesn't take orders from Church."

"Ok, but what about the Freelancers!"

"They don't give a crap about us! They're not homophobic fucktards."

"Carolina's Church's brother. Homophobia might be genetic."

"She's never even spoken to us before."

"She might if you put _that_ in front of the entire class."

Donut sighed. "If you're that against it, I'll ask Flowers if we can swap partners. You can be with Grif- when he wakes up, and I'll work with Tucker."

"What makes you think Tucker will go along with this?"

"I don't know. He likes double entendres and stuff. I just thought you'd be happier working with Grif." _And he's at least bisexual, _Donut thought, but reckoned saying that aloud would just manage to make Simmons uncomfortable

"So, Grif isn't dead."

The two spun around surprisingly quickly. A lot of things were very scary about that voice. The harsh tone, the way he seemed regretful about Grif living, and the reputation of the guy who owned that voice were high among them.

"Locus?" Donut squeaked.

Locus grinned. Being a senior, he was a lot taller than Donut, and even a fair bit higher than Simmons, lanky as he was. Simmons paled, inwardly noting the fact that three groups of bullies was far too much for a school as small as Valhalla. Unlike Church's group, who tended to be assholes to pretty much anyone, and Freelancer, who were more intimidation than anything, Locus tended to choose a select few victims and completely ignore the rest of the school. Just the fact he'd bothered to talk to Donut and Simmons was terrifying.

Simmons was trying -and failing- to work up the courage to tell Locus to go away when he left of his own accord, walking off in silence, a hint of a smile on his face. He couldn't be more scared there and then.

* * *

"North?" Noticing the Freelancer standing behind him gave Theta an unnerving sense of déjà vu. "What do you want?"

North shrugged. "Someone to hang out with, I guess. I don't really feel like hanging out with York."

Theta spent a little bit longer than necessary packing his bag as he thought about that. "Why me, though?"

"You seem lonely."

That was true enough. He had never had any friends aside from his siblings, and they had all vanished somehow. Omega and Sigma were hanging out with their new friends, and he hadn't seen Delta since before lunch.

It used to hurt Theta being left behind. He was used to it by now.

"Alright, fine. But when Delta or Omega freaks out because we spoke to each other, you're taking the blame."

"They wouldn't really get mad at you for _talking _to someone, would they?"

Theta grinned. "You have no idea." North chuckled and accompanied him as he left the school.

"So, uh..." Theta honestly had no idea what to say around North. He'd be lying if he claimed he wasn't still scared being near him. "W-what's your dad do?"

_Idiot. That is a stupid, random question that North will laugh at you for asking._

"Nothing, actually. It's my-_our _mum who works. She runs a day care."

"Oh, sounds nice." Secretly Theta was amazed North actually responded. "Do you ever help with the kids?"

"Yeah. All the time. South loves it too, but she pretends to hate it."

"She sounds like Omega."

"I don't- are you seriously saying Omega likes little kids?"

"Well, no. Hates them. But he pretends to hate everyone and everything, and it's really funny when you see him acting the opposite."

"What do you mean?" North sounded perplexed, as though he couldn't imagine Omega liking something.

"Well, did you notice his hair's purple?"

"Yeah. People with purple hair tend to be hard to notice."

Theta smiled slightly, eyes momentarily focusing on a purple bit of hair in his vision. "Sigma spent _months _trying to get him to dye it. He claimed he hated the idea, and was really against it. You should have seen his face after Doc complimented it on their first date. I'll bet you anything he loves his dyed hair now."

"Wait, Doc and Omega are together?"

"Only since yesterday. Why?"

"Doc; Wash's friend?"

Theta winced slightly at the mention of Wash, and the memory that North was involved with everything that happened with him. "Yes. Why is that a problem?"

"It's just... York and Freelancer have enough problems... the idea of people who really hate us ganging together is scary."

_Get away from this conversation _right now. "You guys are illegal, though. Some people are bound not to like you." _You're an idiot, Theta._

North looked at the ground. "_Some people_ will never like me, no matter who I am. Does it matter what I do, if that's the case?"

Theta wanted to say no, that more people would like him if he wasn't part of a gang. And it didn't matter what everyone thought. But something told him that wasn't what he meant by 'some people'.

**Ohright. I remember :D. If you can work out what everyone's making in Music, I'll... write a entire one-shot based on a character of your choice in the MP+S verse. It's all RvB songs, and the groups are: Church+Andy, Tex+Caboose, Tucker+Donut (as of next class), Grif+Simmons, Sigma+Omega, Carolina+South, York+North, C.T.+Wash. Good luck :D. Msg me or add your guesses into a review, up to you.**

**Farewells and love to you all :D**


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